by Larry EderWalking expert Bob Bowman put his had in the ring for the USATF President Post. Already in the ring are Stephanie Hightower and Dee Dee Jensen. This could be a very hotly contested election in a time when huge changes are about to be placed upon our federation. The position of President becomes ever more important in such times, as the President and the CEO will either be contentious or work well together.
It was quite clear to me that, after interviewing the USOC’s Peter Ueberoth and Jim Scherer in Beijing, that they were quite pleased with the selection of Doug Logan as CEO of USATF. Logan will be the person guiding the federation though the stormy waters of the huge changes that the USOC expects USATF to make in the next months.
Logan has directed one of his blogs to the high performance group at USATF, and it is obvious that he will change the structure, philosophy and focus of the Indy staff in the near future. But how much change will there be? Will it be a gradual evolution or a violent revolution?
USATF, in many ways, has brought this on itself. While there was great change over the past decade, our sport still lags behind other sports in terms of commercial viability, entertainment opportunities and financial support. USOC has perceived, albeit recently, that athletics could be a huge draw, huge money maker and that the kids need to be corralled and taught to play well or the Olympic money wagon will be less and less full.
The challenges facing the new President, whether it is Bob Bowman, Stephanie HIghtower or Dee Dee Jensen, will be huge. We need someone who not only wants the job, but who has the capabilities to grow with the job and handle the budgetary and staff challenges that will come as the sport tries to right itself.
INDIANAPOLIS (USA): Walking expert Bob Bowman will bid for USATF president post. In his announcement he says: “I believe USA Track & Field is at a critical crossroad in its history. We are going through another restructuring at the insistence of the USOC, including a dramatic change in the size and make up of our Board of Directors. We have a new CEO who has come to us from outside track & field. He has some great ideas to re-energize the marketing of our sport and lead us back to the position on the America’s sports landscape our sport deserves. And, with this being the start of a new Olympic quadrennium, we need to focus on achieving the success in London that we had hoped for in Beijing…If elected, I will also lead an effort to bring IAAF World Championship events to the U.S. It has now been 17 years since we last hosted an IAAF major world competition. Since suffering the unprecedented loss of two of our IAAF Committee members at the last IAAF Congress, it’s never been more important that we improve our influence there.”
Used with permission of Alfons Juck, EME News.
