Herb Perez

Several facts were misrepresented in May 15 letters to the editor from Kum Hong Lee and Bill Schechter. First, Century Inc. has not entered into any negotiations for the World Taekwando Federation logo or mark, for it has no value in the marketplace. As an American athlete at the Barcelona Games, I chose my uniform but was not allowed my choice of protective equipment. This was in violation of my rights as a competitor at the Olympic Games. There were no ethics violations with regard to the U.S. Taekwando Union.

Last month, Herb Perez was notified that he was one of a handful of U.S. Olympians who would be honored for his athletic achievements in a ceremony at next week's Titan Games, a mini-sports festival created by Lloyd Ward, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Perez won a gold medal in taekwondo at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, when it was a demonstration sport.

Last month, Herb Perez was notified that he was one of a handful of U.S. Olympians who would be honored for his athletic achievements in a ceremony at next week's Titan Games, a mini-sports festival created by Lloyd Ward, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Perez won a gold medal in taekwondo at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, when it was a demonstration sport.

Several facts were misrepresented in May 15 letters to the editor from Kum Hong Lee and Bill Schechter. First, Century Inc. has not entered into any negotiations for the World Taekwando Federation logo or mark, for it has no value in the marketplace. As an American athlete at the Barcelona Games, I chose my uniform but was not allowed my choice of protective equipment. This was in violation of my rights as a competitor at the Olympic Games. There were no ethics violations with regard to the U.S. Taekwando Union.

The story that appeared on May 6 regarding the marketing of the World Taekwondo Federation equipment did not include the following facts, which entirely alter the thrust of the article: 1. Century Martial Art Supply, correctly identified as a company without rights to market WTF equipment, negotiated with our federation for those rights but ultimately refused to pay the same price that eight sanctioned competitors, worldwide, agreed to pay. ...

Last week, Lloyd Ward was selected chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee. This weekend, he got a taste of what the USOC traditionally has too often been all about. Petty, personality-driven politics. At Ward's first meeting of the USOC's policy-making Executive Committee, the arguing literally went on for hours over how to assign weighted percentages to an internal voting system. "Silly," one insider said after emerging. "A travesty," another said.

Sandra Baldwin resigned Friday as president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, a day after admitting to discrepancies in her USOC biography, including the listing of a doctorate in American literature that she does not possess. Baldwin, 62, of Mesa, Ariz., the first female president in USOC history, tendered her resignation following a lengthy conference call involving the USOC's policy-making executive committee. The call settled nothing.

One of Southern California's oldest industries will vanish this fall when tuna giant Chicken of the Sea International closes its San Pedro cannery. It is not only the last tuna cannery in the harbor, it is the last full-scale tuna canning plant in the U.S. Chicken of the Sea officials said Wednesday they will close the San Pedro plant and lay off its 250 workers because the cost of doing business in California is too high and the tuna catch too small. The country's No.

The U.S. Olympic Committee will debate chief executive officer Lloyd Ward's membership in Augusta National Golf Club at the Nov. 1 meeting of its executive committee, officials said Saturday, raising the prospect that Ward may face the choice of keeping his job or his golf membership. Ward, who took over as the USOC's CEO about a year ago, has publicly declared twice -- once in April, again a couple of weeks ago -- that he hopes to work for change from within Augusta National.

Lloyd Ward, the center of the storm of controversy that has enveloped the U.S. Olympic Committee for the past two months, resigned Saturday as chief executive. Ward, a former Maytag CEO hired only 16 months ago, had for months been a focus of increasingly critical attention. It intensified Dec. 30, with the disclosure that he was under investigation for ethical misconduct. He proclaimed then he intended to keep his job.

A group of Indianapolis civic leaders criticized anti-Castro demonstrators, Cubans for Independence and Democracy (CID) in particular, for their attempts to disrupt the Pan American Games. "This ungracious and unsportsmanlike conduct creates tensions that open the door to violence, and is offensive to the warm Hoosier welcome our citizens have given to all athletes, including the Cuban teams," attorney Eric L.

A powerful Olympic official from South Korea, reprimanded in the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, has been linked to a newly disclosed equipment deal that has already come under scrutiny by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The official is Kim Un Yong, the highest-ranking International Olympic Committee member implicated in the Salt Lake City bidding scandal. Kim is head of the World Taekwondo Federation, a martial arts association.