byRBR AdminVin Lananna ‘taken aback’ by the USATF board’s move to put him on temporary leave, by Ken Goe, for the Oregonian, February 19, 2018, with comments by RunBlogRun
Vin Lananna, photo by PhotoRun.net
USA Track & Field president Vin Lananna said Monday night he was surprised when the organization’s board of directors placed him on temporary administrative leave for what the board called “potential conflict of interest concerns” in light of a Department of Justice Investigation.
The DOJ is investigating the bids of several international championships, including the successful 2015 bid by USATF and TrackTown USA to bring the 2021 world outdoor track championships to Eugene.
The move was made Sunday in a USATF board meeting conducted mostly in executive session, and announced Monday.
To read Ken Goe’s complete column, please go to: http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/index.ssf/2018/02/usatf_board_of_directors_puts.html
RunBlogRun opines: This is the second piece @runblogrun is posting, to give our readers an appreciation of the level of complexity of the Vin Lananna and USATF board relationship. Understand that the USOC loves the way the USATF board does most of their work, and as long as track & field continues to bring in a bevy of medals, they are probably going to be left alone. No one knows how the DOJ investigation will go, and if it Eugene is a real focus or part of the collateral damage of the investigation on corruption in global sport. But, as we have said before, Vin and the USATF board have not been on cordial terms since very close to Lananna’s election.
This is an ongoing story.
