USOC chief resigns amid accusations of ethics violations

DENVER -- Lloyd Ward quit as CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee on Saturday, capping three months of turmoil that began with a conflict- of-interest investigation and led to the resignations of six other top officials.

"In the hope that we can shift the focus back to the athletes and the ideals of the Olympic movement, I have decided to resign," Ward said in a statement issued by the USOC.

Interim president Bill Martin will work in consultation with the USOC's executive committee this week to choose an interim CEO. The executive committee will start planning how to select a permanent replacement in the coming month.

The USOC is a powerful force in the Olympic movement, with its athletes winning the most medals and American sponsors and TV networks providing the most money for the International Olympic Committee. But turf battles among paid staffers and volunteers within the 123-member board of directors have made the USOC dysfunctional over the years.

Still, the latest run of turmoil is sticky even by USOC standards.

Ward has been under fire since he was accused of trying to steer Olympic business to a company with ties to his brother. No deal was made, but after an ethics investigation, Ward was reprimanded and stripped of a $184,000 bonus.

Since then, a top sponsor has threatened to pull out of a $10 million endorsement deal, Congress stepped in and ethics compliance officer Pat Rodgers was among the half-dozen members who quit, along with president Marty Mankamyer.

The final blow for Ward probably came Friday, when Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado and Ted Stevens of Alaska said they might have found evidence of fraud during a visit to the USOC's headquarters.

Ward's decision came four days after the USOC's executive committee discussed his job status in a conference call.

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said Saturday that the issue was "clearly a matter for the USOC."

"Nonetheless, it would be fair to say that the IOC had a good relationship with Ward and we wish him well for his future," Davies said. "We also look forward to working with the new chief executive."

The USOC's revolving door has seen six presidents and CEOs leave since 2000.

"It is no coincidence that the USOC has had 11 CEOs and 10 volunteer presidents since 1978," Ward said. "Clearly, competing interests within the USOC have placed its CEOs in an untenable, if not impossible role.

"My hope is that the governance structure at the USOC be clarified at an early date to eliminate the backbiting we who have been CEO have endured."

Mankamyer, the organization's highest-ranking volunteer, resigned Feb. 4 after colleagues said she tried to oust Ward in an attempt to gain more power. Her predecessor, Sandy Baldwin, stepped down in April after she acknowledged having lied about her academic credentials.

Martin, the USOC's third top volunteer in 11 months, sent a letter to Ward on Saturday.

"It is with regret that I express my agreement that you have reached the appropriate decision in asking to be relieved of your responsibility," Martin wrote. "Your action accords with what I believe we both regard as the paramount issue -- assuring the credibility of the Olympic movement in the United States at a critical time." Ward, a former Maytag CEO, was hired to replace Norm Blake in October 2001. Blake lasted just nine months before resigning in 2000 amid internal strife.

Campbell, Stevens and Arizona Sen. John McCain are part of a Senate Commerce Committee investigating ways to streamline the unwieldy structure of the troubled organization. They appointed a task force to look at reforming the 1978 law that gave the USOC its charter, and Campbell repeatedly called for Ward to resign.

"Lloyd has accomplished many good things for the USOC, but the current situation makes it impossible for us to move forward," USOC vice president Frank Marshall said. "I commend Lloyd for putting the interests of the USOC and it's athletes ahead of his own personal interests."

In a conference call Tuesday, two members of the USOC's executive committee asked for a vote to oust Ward, and five others questioned whether he could continue as CEO amid the widening crisis. But no vote was called after Martin said the meeting was not official.

David D'Alessandro, CEO of John Hancock Financial Services, demanded in January that the USOC provide a financial report or his company might invoke a morals clause to pull out of its sponsorship deal.

A flurry of accusations have followed Ward since the executive committee reprimanded him Jan. 13, including allegations he asked officials at the Salt Lake City Olympics to give preferential treatment to the man who built his house in Colorado Springs.

Last year, Ward was criticized for his membership at all-male Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters.

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