Anita L. DeFrantz

Anita L. DeFrantz. . , Olympian. , International Olympic Committee member. , Sport Administrator. , Anita L. DeFrantz was a vice president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, the group that staged the highly successful 1984 Olympic Games. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was the centerpiece of the 1984 games, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the track and field competition. There were three Olympic villages in 1984, including one at the nearby University of Southern California. DeFrantz organized and managed the USC Olympic Village. , DeFrantz's long and distinguished Olympic career began as a rower, at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, where she captained the U.S. team to a bronze medal in the women's eight. Four years later she led the fight against the United States boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee awarded her the bronze medal of the Olympic Order for leading the anti-boycott campaign. , The IOC elected her as a member in 1986. DeFrantz served the IOC in a wide range of capacities including vice president, member of the executive board, and chair of the IOC Commission on Women and Sport. , She also was a vice president of FISA, the international rowing federation, and played leadership roles in the United States Olympic Committee, Women's Sports Foundation and U.S. Rowing Association. , A graduate of Connecticut College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, DeFrantz served as president of the LA84 Foundation from 1987 until 2015. The foundation was created with Southern California's share of the $232.5 million 1984 Olympic surplus. The foundation, under DeFrantz's leadership, made grants for youth sports infrastructure improvements and programming in Exposition Park, immediately adjacent to the Coliseum, and provided funding for the 2015 Special Olympics World Games, which held its opening and closing ceremonies in the Coliseum. During DeFrantz's presidency more than 1,200 youth sports organizations throughout Southern California received grants benefitting over 3 million young people.