Streeter, The CEO Of US Olympic Committee, Resigns Over 2016 Bid

Stephanie Streeter, the CEO of the US Olympic Committee (USOC), announced her resignation today. The announcement comes in the wake of the vote to select the capital of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Rio de Janeiro was picked to host the 2016 Games by the International Olympic Committee out of the four cities that were short-listed. Chicago was one the headliners, but got eliminated in the first round of voting with the least number of votes. The early exit of Chicago caused a lot of surprise in the United States, and became a nightmare for the US Olympic Committee.

Right of the bat, USOC was facing numerous problems with its bid. First, it could not secure the attendance by the US President Barack Obama. Eventually, the committee convinced the President to come to Copenhagen to support the bid, but it seems the damage to the USOC reputation has been done already.  Secondly, Chicago was the only city out of the four contenders which did not have the federal funding pre-approved ahead of the vote. Many believe the lack of financial guarantees has jeopardized Chicago's chances. Of course, it is the job of the bid team to secure funding, but given the economic situation in the United States, it is hardly surprising that the Committee was unsuccessful at negotiating financial backing from the federal government.

Moreover, many felt USOC has alienated IOC by deciding to launch an Olympic channel without IOC's approval.

Not surprisingly, when blatant failures like that happen, the CEO is somewhat expected to resign, which was preciously what Ms Streeter has done. The national search is now on to find a new CEO for USOC.

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