COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- As a child, Rick Santorum gasped in disbelief at Bob Beamon's record-setting long jump at the 1968 Olympics. Three years ago, he stared in amazement as Michael Phelps swam to a record eight gold medals. He recently caught his own case of Olympic fever.
The former Pennsylvania senator liked what he saw at the Olympic Training Center, on a tour with U.S. Olympic Committee chief of sport operations Mike English and Colorado Springs modern pentathlete Eli Bremer before a county GOP dinner at the Antlers Hilton.
A social and fiscal conservative striving for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Santorum, 52, of Penn Hills, Pa., talked to a handful of OTC residents and passed through practices for gymnastics, shooting and weightlifting in what he called "a top-flight, state-of-the-art facility where our athletes (are) given the best opportunity to be competitive."
"It's great to see the support of the local community for this," said Santorum, who works for a Pittsburgh law firm after serving in the Senate from 1995 to 2007. "It's a great thing to have in your community. At the same time, this probably doesn't survive without that local support. So it's good to see that collaboration -- someone taking ownership of it."
The USOC plans $16 million in improvements to the OTC, with hopes for a "multimedia experience" inside the visitors center, a remodeled entrance from Union Boulevard, more housing for athletes and a modernized cafeteria. Roughly $14.5 million of the $16 million has been secured by the USOC -- the remainder is expected from the city by Sept. 18.
It's possible the USOC, which closed 2009 with $119.2 million in net assets, according to its latest tax returns, will spend money out of pocket in what chief executive officer Scott Blackmun predicted will require "significant resources." A revamped proposal was presented last month at a USOC board meeting in Atlanta, and after the city gives its OK, final approval should come when the USOC board meets June 28 in Stanford, Calif.
Renovations have started at the OTC, a former Air Force base that served as the USOC's headquarters from 1978, when the USOC relocated from New York, until April 2010, when it began operations out of six-story offices at 27 S. Tejon St. Many buildings have been demolished, including the Olympic House.
Credit the work to a $42.3 million commitment by the city to keep the USOC for at least 30 years. The city went to great lengths to retain the USOC -- a city agency spent $31.47 million in certificates of participation in 2009, and the city is on the hook for $1.7 million a year through 2039 to repay the certificates, a form of borrowing without voter approval.
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