Swimmers Naber, de Varona Elected to USOPA Board Seats In Revote

After an ethics committee ordered a new election, swimmers John Naber and Donna de Varona were elected to USOPC Board seats through the Olympic alumni organization.

The USOPA (U.S. Olympians & Paralympians Association) is an Olympic alumni group. The USOPA gets two at-large seats on the board for the USOPC (U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee).

The alumni group’s first election brought a barrage of ethics concerns. Olympic swimmer Anne Warner Cribbs was a candidate for one of the board seats, but the USOPC ethics panel found her ineligible for the post and ordered a new election.

Per The Orange County Register, the ethics committee found that Cribbs had misrepresented herself as an Olympic gold medalist. Cribbs swam a prelims leg of a 4×100 medley relay in 1960 that eventually won gold, but she didn’t swim on the relay in the final. Prelims swimmers weren’t awarded medals until 1992.

The ethics panel also ruled that the alumni association must hold a new election, saying that the alumni group had “failed to vet the candidates it put forward for election.”

Per The Orange County Register, the investigation was prompted by allegations that the nominating committee chaired by Naber had not followed vetting guidelines. Cribbs was also accused of failing to disclose results of an investigation that ultimately led to her resignation as chairperson of USA Table Tennis.