From Inside Triathlon
News of Olympic divorce "exaggerated" say USAT directors
Weiss proposal doomed to defeat, says board president
by Timothy Carlson
IT senior correspondent
This report filed March 1, 2005
A radical proposal for USA Triathlon to sever relations with the USOC is both unlikely to win a majority of the 11-member board of directors when they meet in mid-March, and under current bylaws would forbid the board of directors to vote on the proposal, said USA Triathlon Western Region representative Tim Becker.
"According to our current bylaws," said Becker, "USA Triathlon is a member both of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The only way the USA Triathlon board of directors could act on this proposal (filed by USA Treasurer Jack Weiss in late February) would be if it were offered as an amendment to the bylaws and voted upon by the membership at large."
Weiss's proposal cited increased financial demands made by the USOC to USA Triathlon, and characterized the US Olympic Committee as wanting to control USA Triathlon.
USA Triathlon President Brad Davison said Weiss's proposal "contained a lot of misinformation and misperceived the intentions of the USOC towards USA Triathlon. The idea that the USOC wants to control USA Triathlon and take over control from its membership is wrong. Jack Weiss's view of the relationship is limited and does not take into account the wider picture."
Current board member Steve Locke, who resigned last year after an 11-year tour as USA Triathlon executive director, said, "It's Jack Weiss's last hurrah, it's stupid and it won't pass." Locke said that at minimum, he, Davison and Becker would vote nay, as would the three elite athletes on the board, thus killing the measure - if it were to come to a vote.
Even Dan Empfield, the influential former USAT Board member and publisher of the influential SlowTwitch.com website, admits proposal, if it got to a vote in March, would go down to defeat. For now.
"But I will guarantee you that I will get at least 2,500 signatures of USA Triathlon members to put it to a vote to change the bylaws at the next elections," said Empfield. "And the current board will have a hard time finding enough votes to beat that core group."
Davison said that the USA Triathlon meeting with the USOC in recent months was not fraught with threats from the USOC to take over USA Triathlon. "Several other National Governing Bodies (NGBs) met with the USOC to share ideas," said Davison, who added that the USOC did not approach USA Triathlon with arrogance.
"In fact, the USOC went through some strife the last two years in which two factions were fighting for power," said Becker. "Much of what they wanted to share was ways in which NGBs could avoid the strife and painful mistakes they made. Rather than dictating what they wanted USA Triathlon to do, the USOC also wanted to learn from USA Triathlon about how they successfully managed their high performance plan which brought in 14 of 42 possible medals at the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Am Games during the past four years."
Becker characterized the figures offered by Weiss listing costs to USAT were either "inaccurate or misleading."
"When Jack cited $330,000 as a cost to the federation for supporting the elite athlete program, that was for a four year period," said Becker. "That comes to $82,500 per year."
While Weiss (and Empfield) characterized the USOC as demanding a change in the USA Triathlon board to tilt solely toward persons with Olympic experience, and against the presence of age group athletes and race directors, Becker and Davison disagreed.
"The USOC was not suggesting that race directors not be represented," said Becker. "They did suggest that the board be represented by a wide range of persons with a wide range of experience in the sport - and not be overloaded by any one career experience."
News of Olympic divorce "exaggerated" say USAT directors
Weiss proposal doomed to defeat, says board president
by Timothy Carlson
IT senior correspondent
This report filed March 1, 2005
A radical proposal for USA Triathlon to sever relations with the USOC is both unlikely to win a majority of the 11-member board of directors when they meet in mid-March, and under current bylaws would forbid the board of directors to vote on the proposal, said USA Triathlon Western Region representative Tim Becker.
"According to our current bylaws," said Becker, "USA Triathlon is a member both of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The only way the USA Triathlon board of directors could act on this proposal (filed by USA Treasurer Jack Weiss in late February) would be if it were offered as an amendment to the bylaws and voted upon by the membership at large."
Weiss's proposal cited increased financial demands made by the USOC to USA Triathlon, and characterized the US Olympic Committee as wanting to control USA Triathlon.
USA Triathlon President Brad Davison said Weiss's proposal "contained a lot of misinformation and misperceived the intentions of the USOC towards USA Triathlon. The idea that the USOC wants to control USA Triathlon and take over control from its membership is wrong. Jack Weiss's view of the relationship is limited and does not take into account the wider picture."
Current board member Steve Locke, who resigned last year after an 11-year tour as USA Triathlon executive director, said, "It's Jack Weiss's last hurrah, it's stupid and it won't pass." Locke said that at minimum, he, Davison and Becker would vote nay, as would the three elite athletes on the board, thus killing the measure - if it were to come to a vote.
Even Dan Empfield, the influential former USAT Board member and publisher of the influential SlowTwitch.com website, admits proposal, if it got to a vote in March, would go down to defeat. For now.
"But I will guarantee you that I will get at least 2,500 signatures of USA Triathlon members to put it to a vote to change the bylaws at the next elections," said Empfield. "And the current board will have a hard time finding enough votes to beat that core group."
Davison said that the USA Triathlon meeting with the USOC in recent months was not fraught with threats from the USOC to take over USA Triathlon. "Several other National Governing Bodies (NGBs) met with the USOC to share ideas," said Davison, who added that the USOC did not approach USA Triathlon with arrogance.
"In fact, the USOC went through some strife the last two years in which two factions were fighting for power," said Becker. "Much of what they wanted to share was ways in which NGBs could avoid the strife and painful mistakes they made. Rather than dictating what they wanted USA Triathlon to do, the USOC also wanted to learn from USA Triathlon about how they successfully managed their high performance plan which brought in 14 of 42 possible medals at the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Am Games during the past four years."
Becker characterized the figures offered by Weiss listing costs to USAT were either "inaccurate or misleading."
"When Jack cited $330,000 as a cost to the federation for supporting the elite athlete program, that was for a four year period," said Becker. "That comes to $82,500 per year."
While Weiss (and Empfield) characterized the USOC as demanding a change in the USA Triathlon board to tilt solely toward persons with Olympic experience, and against the presence of age group athletes and race directors, Becker and Davison disagreed.
"The USOC was not suggesting that race directors not be represented," said Becker. "They did suggest that the board be represented by a wide range of persons with a wide range of experience in the sport - and not be overloaded by any one career experience."