Bob Condron/USOC
COLUMBUS, Ohio”An Ohio United States District Court denied a temporary restraining order on Wednesday in a suit brought by the Ohio Taekwondo Association (OTA) against USA Taekwondo (USAT) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). In its ruling, the Court found that “granting plaintiff’s [OTA’S] request would throw the sport of Taekwondo into a state of disarray and would result in harm to Taekwondo athletes throughout the United States.”
OTA’S complaint sought to restrain USAT and the USOC from continuing with implementation of a remediation plan approved in February, 2004, by the United States Taekwondo Union (USTU), USAT’s predecessor organization. That plan was approved on the eve of USTU’s decertification as a national governing body by the USOC. The complaint also challenged the transfer of USTU’s corporate situs from Ohio to Colorado and the change of USTU’s corporate name to USAT. Further, the complaint sought to relieve OTA from exhausting its administrative remedies challenging the reorganization plan as required by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (the “Act”).
Both parties did not dispute that leading up to the decision to decertify USTU, it suffered from financial mismanagement and an inability to effectively govern taekwondo. In November, 2003, the USOC filed an internal, administrative complaint against USTU seeking to decertify it as the national governing body for taekwondo. At the same time the USOC was working with USTU to develop a remediation plan to solve USTU’s financial and administrative problems.
The USOC complaint was to be heard at a January 2004 USOC Executive Committee meeting, but instead of proceeding, the USTU entered into an agreement with the USOC that required the resignation of all USTU officers and the transfer of management of the organization to a five-member governance and management committee. The plan also called for a new chief executive officer, appointed by the USOC, to run the organization. The remediation plan was approved by the USTU Executive Committee and the USTU Board of Governors in February 2004.
When the governance and management committee took over, it found that USTU was nearly one million dollars in debt and that its current governance structure was inadequate to run the sport. The governance and management committee addressed USTU’s financial crisis and then turned to reforming USTU’s governance structure. The governance and management committee submitted its reorganization proposal to USTU members in May of 2004. The reorganization proposal setting forth a new governance structure was approved by USTU’s Board of Governors at its November 2004 meeting.
OTA’s complaint stemmed from its assertion that it should have been afforded two seats on the governance and management committee and its disapproval of the new governance structure, which reduced the size of USTU’s board from approximately 120 directors to 10. Under the new structure, three board directors would be independent and two would be elite level athletes. The new structure also eliminated control of the board by state associations, such as OTA.
The Court found that one of the responsibilities of the USOC under the Act is “to provide swift resolution of conflicts and disputes involving”¦national governing bodies.” The Court held that the USOC has jurisdiction under the Act to oversee Olympic amateur sports in the United States. The Court also found that the relief OTA sought would completely eliminate the USOC and the USAT’s oversight of taekwondo, derailing the reorganization efforts and harming the sport’s athletes.
The Court also said that OTA must exhaust the administrative remedies available to it under the Act before seeking redress with the Court.
After the Court’s decision, USAT CEO Bob Gambardella, stated, “I am hopeful that with the Court’s ruling the Ohio Taekwondo Association will support the USAT reorganization and put its efforts into creating the best opportunities possible for developing and supporting our athletes. It is time to put to an end the past bickering and squabbles that have existed in this sport, which in part resulted in the necessity for USOC intervention.”
Since USOC involvement and under the guidance of the government and management committee, taekwondo athletes have won a gold and silver medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and three golds and a bronze at the World Championships last week in Madrid, Spain. The U.S. performance at the World Championships was the best ever for U.S. athletes at that event.
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