Brian Gomez

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Scott Blackmun passes through the U.S. Olympic Committee's downtown headquarters, and the USOC chief executive officer sees few women, few Hispanics and even fewer blacks. He sees mostly white men -- staffers who look just like him. And he knows the USOC must become more diverse.

The Colorado Springs-based USOC gives itself a "failing grade" on diversity, Blackmun said -- 91 percent of USOC managers are white and 64 percent are men, with two female CEOs among 47 national governing bodies, which report boards that are 91 percent white and membership that is 85 percent white, according to a USOC study.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Recent studies involving Air Force wrestlers and women's soccer players have revealed it takes an athlete longer to become adjusted to altitude than research previously indicated, according to presentations at a U.S.

IOC delegation visits U.S.

By Brian Gomez

The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The head of the International Olympic Committee is in Colorado Springs on a rare visit. So are 15 other IOC members, joined by more than 100 athletes from around the world.

For nearly two years, since Scott Blackmun became the U.S. Olympic Committee's chief executive officer, the USOC has focused its sights on increasing international interaction, on assuming a more active role in the Olympic movement.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Mary Lou Skok came across Adolf Hitler, she couldn't see evil. She couldn't see a man capable of murdering millions of Jews. She only saw a dictator.

"He was just like Charlie Chaplin," Skok recalled. "But he didn't twitch his mustache."

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Artificial crowd noise roared through the speakers at the Olympic Training Center. It was intended to be a distraction. For Rau'shee Warren and Michael Hunter, it was motivation.

Warren and Hunter have become the unrivaled leaders of the U.S. boxing team that starts competition this month at the world championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, and they proved their readiness by triumphing in simulated bouts Tuesday against their training partners.

Other winners in fights with judges adhering to international scoring were bantamweight Joseph Diaz Jr., welterweight Errol Spence, middleweight Jesse Hart, light-heavyweight Marcus Browne and super-heavyweight Lenroy Thompson. Losers were light-flyweight Eros Correa, lightweight Jose Ramirez and light-welterweight Jamel Herring.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Where there once was unmistakable acrimony, there's now lots of harmony between the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Olympic national governing bodies it serves, the result of improved communication by the USOC and a louder voice at the table for the NGBs.

Relationships that were broken have been repaired in the 18 months that Scott Blackmun has worked as chief executive officer of the Colorado Springs-based USOC, and with no reason to complain given the financial boost they received from the USOC, the NGBs are focusing their efforts on assembling top-notch athletes for the 2012 London Games.