Fitzgerald Mosley hired to boost track performance

INDIANAPOLIS — USA Track and Field appointed 1984 Olympic gold medalist Benita Fitzgerald Mosley its new chief of sport performance Thursday, putting the former University of Tennessee in charge of leading the American track team to its goal of 30 medals at the London Games.

CEO Doug Logan called for a revamping of USATF’s management style after a disappointing Beijing Olympics. He created the chief of sport performance spot to oversee the overall track and field operation. Fitzgerald Mosley will start July 1.

She was part of a task force that looked at what went wrong in Beijing, when the U.S. team won 23 medals. In 1984, she won gold in the 100 meter hurdles.

She will be in charge of the U.S. track team’s athlete development programs, team management, national relay management, elite athlete services, sport science programs, coaching education and management of meet officials. Aspects of mostly all those functions came into question in the 69-page report issued by the task force this year.

In 2004, Fitzgerald Mosely was honored as Cable TV Executive of the Year by Television Week for her work as president and CEO of Women In Cable Telecommunications. She has also worked with the U.S. Olympic Committee in various roles, including as director of the USOC’s Olympic Training Centers from 1997-2000.