IOC Vice President Anita DeFrantz - Keynote Speaker For Banquet

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STANFORD, Calif. — First Vice President of the International Olympic Committee Anita L. DeFrantz will be visiting Stanford, Calif. this spring as the keynote speaker for the banquet preceding the first-ever NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship.

The banquet is scheduled for Friday, May 11, 2001 at the Sheraton in Palo Alto. There is a limited number of tickets available for purchase by the general public and will be sold on a first come, first serve basis. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with the cost of $60 per person, which includes dinner and the program. The inaugural NCAA Championship event will be hosted by Stanford University at the newly remodeled Avery Aquatic Center. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, May 12 with the finals on Sunday, May 13.

DeFrantz was elected to the IOC in 1986. In September of 1997, she became the first woman in the 103-year history of the IOC to be elected as vice president. Last month, DeFrantz announced her candidacy for President of the IOC.

She was a member of the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic rowing teams. In addition to her Olympic bronze medal performance in the 1976 Games, DeFrantz won a silver medal in the 1978 World Championships in rowing, was a finalist in the World Championships four times and won six National Championships. The IOC awarded her the Bronze Medal of the Olympic Order for her leadership role in fighting the U.S. government led boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

An instrumental figure in women’s water polo being added as an Olympic sport, DeFrantz helped water polo make its debut at the Sydney Olympics last year.

As a vice president for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, she organized and managed the Olympic Village at the University of Southern California during the 1984 Olympic Games. As president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, DeFrantz heads the group which is managing Southern California’s endowment from the 1984 Games.

She has been named one of the "100 Most Powerful People in Sports" by The Sporting News nine times (1991-99) and one of "The 100 Most Powerful Women In The World" by The Australian Magazine.

DeFrantz is president and member of the Board of Directors of Kids in Sports, Los Angeles. Always an advocate of athletes, DeFrantz has served as president of Southern California Olympians and as steward of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

To order banquet tickets or for more information, contact:
Jenny Claypool at (650) 725-7244.