OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN; Is She the Most Powerful Woman in Sports?; Anita Defrantz won a medal in '76, took on Jimmy Carter's boycott in '80, stood at the right hand of Peter Ueberroth in '84 and helped win the games for Atlanta in '96. Now she could become the first woman to head the International Olympics Committee Home Edition

• Published in: The Los Angeles times
• Main Author: Harvey, Randy
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 30.06.1996
• Subjects: Olympic games
• ISSN: 0458-3035

[Avery] Brundage, whose sole purpose was to prevent the Modern Games from becoming too modern, would not have made room in his IOC for DeFrantz. Befitting her experiences in the 1976 Summer Olympics as a bronze medalist in rowing--"the noblest sport," she calls it--DeFrantz is most often linked with two causes: athletes' rights, including those of professionals to participate in the Olympics, and increased opportunities in sports for women. It is debatable whether women's soccer or softball would be in the 1996 Summer Olympics without a push from DeFrantz. She has backed down from fights with no one--not [Harvey] Schiller, not [Juan Antonio] Samaranch, not Jimmy Carter. Especially not Carter. Sixteen years after the former president ordered the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, costing her a chance at a second medal and countless heartaches as she unsuccessfully sued the USOC to reject his mandate, she went to war when Carter was nominated to participate in this year's torch relay. He gracefully bowed out, citing a prior commitment. Still, DeFrantz has been so effective and so diplomatic overall that, at age 43 and only 10 years after she became an IOC member, she is being discussed as a possible successor to Samaranch.