USA Cycling, Basketball still pondering move

Two of the most prominent national governing bodies of Olympic sports haven’t determined whether they’ll move their headquarters from Colorado Springs.

USA Cycling officials set a Dec. 15 deadline for their 48-employee organization, which is considering new Colorado Springs locations and options in Ogden, Utah, and in an unspecified third city.

USA Basketball officials set a Dec. 20 deadline for receiving the request for proposal (RFP) they sent to 25-plus cities, including Chicago, Colorado Springs, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

Six NGBs — badminton, boxing, cycling, judo, taekwondo and weightlifting — will be displaced if the U.S. Olympic Committee follows through on plans to tear down an aging building at the Olympic Training Center.

A five-person contingent led by USA Cycling chief executive officer Steve Johnson toured Ogden facilities last month. No other visits are planned, USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said.

“We need to make a decision that is best for USA Cycling,” Lee said. “Between Ogden and Colorado Springs, those are the two that are furthest along in the process. Those would be the most likely sites.”

USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller said Los Angeles-based Wasserman Media Group is collecting relocation proposals for the 13-employee organization that’s based at an 18,000-square-foot building on Mark Dabling Boulevard. He anticipates a decision next summer.

“It’s going to come down to what’s best for the organization,” Miller said.

“I don’t think there’s any city the executive committee feels is a natural fit.”

ISAKSEN WINS IN RIO

OTC modern pentathlete Margaux Isaksen won a gold medal last weekend at the South American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Isaksen overtook Brazilian Yane Marques in the run portion after trailing most of the women’s competition. Marques was a gold medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games and has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Games.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Isaksen, who won national championships at the youth, junior and senior levels over the summer. “I went down there hoping to win. I started off badly, but I fought until the end and gave it everything I had.”

In the men’s competition, Colorado Springs resident Sam Sacksen finished second behind Bulgarian Hantov Tzanko, and Niul Manske, a member of the World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson, took 10th place.

DOWNS TAKES DUAL

Fort Carson light-heavyweight Christopher Downs defeated Lei Yuping 12-10 last weekend in a dual between the U.S. and China in Zunyi City. Yuping was a quarterfinalist at the 2004 Athens Games. He was a silver medalist at the 2004 Asian championships.

Downs is co-captain of the 11-person team that trains at the OTC. After a second-round exit at the world championships, he has two chances to qualify for Beijing — a March tournament in Trinidad and Tobago and an April tournament in Guatemala.

RUIZ CLAIMS GOLD

Colorado Springs wrestler Justin Ruiz won a gold medal Nov. 25 in the 211.5-pound weight class of the Vantaa Cup in Finland.

Ruiz went 4-0 to capture his fifth title of the year. He defeated Finland’s Timo Kallio 2-0, 1-1, 5-0 in the gold-medal match after pinning Korean Kim Jung-Sub in the semifinals.

Colorado Springs residents Glenn Garrison (132) and Phil Johnston (211.5) placed fifth. In the bronze-medal round, Garrison dropped a 1-4, 7-0, 2-0 decision to Russian Aslan Abdullin and Johnston suffered a 4-0, 5-0 loss to Poland’s Andrzej Deberny.

ESTRELLA NAMED ASSISTANT

Colorado Springs resident Rich Estrella was named an assistant to Steve Fraser on the U.S. Greco-Roman team that will compete in Beijing. Estrella is coach of the WCAP wrestlers at Peterson Air Force Base. He served as an assistant at the 1996 Atlanta Games and has twice coached at the world championships.

SPRINGS SKATERS IN ACTION

More than 50 members of The Broadmoor Skating Club competed at the Southwestern Regional Championships in October in Grapevine, Texas. Thirteen qualified for the Midwestern Sectional Championships, which were held last month in Rochester Hills, Mich. Nine qualified for the U.S. Junior Championships, which ended Saturday in Salt Lake City.

HALF-DOZEN TO POLAND

Six Colorado Springs figure skaters will begin competition Thursday at the Junior Grand Prix Series Final in Gdansk, Poland. The 18-person U.S. team features Rachael Flatt, Alexe Gilles, Austin Kanallakan and Brandon Mroz and pairs Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.blogspot.com