When the U.S. team dons the red, white and blue for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics Games in Sydney, Australia, September 15, many of the participants will be familiar faces to those who follow college sports.

Numerous current and former NCAA champions have prepared for the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, some using university facilities or training with their college teams. American university and college coaches will be represented at the Games as well, some as coaches and others as competitors.

And while sports such as women's gymnastics may be dominated by the under-18 set, for many athletes the path to the Olympic dream winds through NCAA member institutions.

In the past, that journey could have been a difficult one. The NCAA and the United States Olympic Committee sometimes had disagreements and even conflicting rules and policies. Now, however, the two organizations work together to make the journey from NCAA champion to Olympic gold as smooth as silk.

In last decade, both the NCAA and the USOC have worked to improve their relationship. In 1989, the USOC's Olympic Overview Commission approached the NCAA, seeking to make things easier for the athletes who sometimes found themselves in difficult positions as they moved between NCAA competition and international and Olympic competition.

"We specifically talked about how the relationship between the USOC and the NCAA could become stronger," said Herman R. Frazier, senior associate director of athletics at Arizona State University and a vice-president of the USOC. "The commission made people realize that we ought to be on the same page."

Frazier, a former world-class runner who will take over as athletics director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham next month, has served as a USOC vice-president -- a position he will retain -- since 1996. He also spent four years on the NCAA's Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, ending his tenure this month.

"It makes so much sense for the NCAA and the USOC to work together because for the most part, Olympic athletes are current and former NCAA athletes," he said. "I would guess that maybe as many as 85 percent of the athletes headed for Sydney competed at one time at an NCAA member institution."

In the late 1980s, the NCAA's Special Committee to Review Amateurism Issues began examining the relationship. Robert A. Bowlsby, athletics director at the University of Iowa, served on that committee.

"We believed there was substantial commonality between the two organizations," he said. "We wanted to make sure that athletes progressing through different levels of development could do so unimpeded by the rules of either organization."

Bowlsby said that NCAA members also realized that college athletics plays an important role in preparing athletes for international and Olympic competition.

"In many sports, including wrestling and track and field, colleges and universities are the primary feeder system for the Olympics," he said. "We decided that we wanted to be the best possible feeder system we could be -- while realizing that our emphasis needed to be on the college student-athlete experience."

Building bridges

At first glance, it makes perfect sense that the NCAA and the USOC would work together. After all, the Olympian who swam for a university and went on to win the gold medal for the United States brings acclaim to both the nation and the university. The university benefits every time it is mentioned that the swimmer trained there, and the U.S. Olympic team benefits from high-profile, nationally competitive programs, athletes and facilities.

But over the years there have been those who have doubted the benefits of the NCAA and the USOC working toward common ground. In fact, the two organizations have had a tumultuous past (see related story on page A4).

It was clear that much work needed to be done to build bridges between the two organizations, and the first clear step on the NCAA's part was the creation of a new committee to work on the relationship on an ongoing basis.

The Special Committee to Review Amateurism Issues recommended the creation of a new committee known as the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, which was approved by the NCAA membership at the 1991 NCAA Convention. It was to act as a liaison between the NCAA and the USOC, as well as between the NCAA and Olympic sports' national governing bodies. It also was asked to study and make recommendations concerning the NCAA's role in the involvement of student-athletes in international athletics.

Over the years, the committee has put forth numerous proposals for rules changes intended to benefit student-athletes -- who sometimes also are Olympic athletes.

"I think we were able to accommodate elite athletes, without compromising the experience that is collegiate athletics," said Bowlsby, a former chair of the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee. "Things like providing access to health insurance, allowing athletes to miss some days to participate with national teams, allowing the scheduling of competitions with Olympic developmental squads -- those were some of the initiatives that we recommended. There were certain things that we weren't able to do, certain things that the membership was not quite ready for."

And over time, as more legislation was recommended and passed, there was an acknowledgement by many NCAA members of the Association's role in developing Olympians.

"I think we realized that we are the developing ground for Olympic athletes," Bowlsby said. "In certain sports we're the primary developing ground and in other cases we're the sole developing ground -- whether we want to be or not. And the creation of successful elite athletes, while certainly not our mission per se, can hopefully be a desirable byproduct."

The NCAA Olympic Liaison Committee meets annually, typically in conjunction with the USOC's Olympic Congress, which provides an opportunity for different groups with an interest in the Olympic movement to come together and share ideas. In the past, the NCAA's Olympic Liaison Committee also has used that opportunity to meet with national governing bodies and hear their concerns.

"Creating an ongoing process for national governing bodies to meet annually with the Olympic Liaison Committee during the Olympic Congress has helped to normalize relations," Bowlsby said.

"We've been able to explain to the USOC and the national governing bodies what we're about. I think that exchange of information has been extremely valuable. Also, the Olympic committee and the national governing bodies have noticed that (the NCAA) has made a concerted effort to help them. It's been beneficial to the Olympic community and to the collegiate community as well."

Investing in each other

In 1995, the USOC and the NCAA took another important step when they created the NCAA/USOC Task Force. In 1997, that group played an important role in protecting NCAA championships that could have been discontinued because of low sponsorship.

In 1997, NCAA championships with fewer than the minimum sponsorship numbers were operating only because of a 1995 moratorium on the discontinuation of National Collegiate Championships. That moratorium was scheduled to expire in 1998-99, endangering the future of numerous NCAA championships in Olympic sports. Men's gymnastics, Division II field hockey and Division II men's ice hockey fell below the minimum, and men's water polo and Division II wrestling also were dangerously close to the minimum at the time.

The NCAA membership adopted legislation at the 1997 Convention exempting a National Collegiate Championship or division championship in any Olympic sport from the minimum-sponsorship percentage requirements of NCAA Bylaw 18.2.3 or 18.2.4. Instead of being discontinued automatically because of failure to meet sponsorship requirements, championships with fewer than the minimum sponsorship of 40 institutions -- in Olympic sports only -- now can be discontinued only if the NCAA membership specifically votes to do so, which it has done only once (Division II ice hockey, which had extremely low sponsorship).

Supporters of the affected Olympic sports hailed the legislation in 1997, pointing out that the growth of many of the sports had been hampered by the danger that the NCAA might discontinue the championship at any time.

Later that same year, the USOC's board of directors, which includes representatives from Olympic sports' national governing bodies, took a giant leap toward positive relations with NCAA members when it unanimously approved an $8 million four-year conference grant program to bolster emerging and endangered Olympic sports. The objectives included:

* Providing incentives for universities and colleges to add, elevate or enhance Olympic sports.

* Increasing participation numbers, collegiate programs and championships.

* Assisting schools in meeting gender-equity requirements.

* Encouraging the continued sponsorship of endangered sports.

* Assisting national governing bodies in achieving their goals for Olympic sports on the collegiate level.

The grant program, now in its last year, has awarded nearly all of its funds. Sixteen NCAA member conferences have received grants in 12 Olympic sports (see table, page A4). Grant funding has provided assistance to 19 conference championships.

"The purpose of the grant program was to promote institutional sponsorship of Olympic sports at the college level, particularly in sports where sponsorship has been low or declining," said Don Whittle, USOC conference grant program manager.

Grant programs have included smaller institutions, such as the members of the Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which received a $485,000 grant to support women's ice hockey.

"Women's ice hockey is a sport that's witnessing outstanding growth, especially in Division III," said Leslie J. Poolman, director of athletics at Dickinson College and the Division III representative to the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee. "Programs like the grants and the new NCAA championships are giving many of these women opportunities to go much further in the sport that they ever thought they could."

Changing the rules of the game

Since its inception in 1991, the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee has taken an active role in efforts to improve the relationship between the Association and the USOC. The committee has helped make 45 significant changes in NCAA rules impacting Olympic and national governing body interests.

"The NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee has been absolutely instrumental in helping athletes by liberalizing many of the restrictive regulations that have been on the books in years past," said Curt Hamakawa, USOC director of international relations and an NCAA staff member from 1987 to 1990.

"The changes (in NCAA legislation) and the grant program have worked to benefit athletes as well as the relationship between the NCAA and the USOC. There's definitely a greater air of cooperation and understanding."

Some of the most memorable changes have been those related to expenses, Hamakawa said. Athletes are now permitted to receive educational expenses from the USOC, and they also are permitted to receive payment of expenses for developmental training programs. Athletes also may receive certain expenses approved and provided by the USOC before full-time enrollment in college, and they may receive expenses to participate in Olympic tours and exhibitions.

Still other changes have permitted coaches to take temporary leaves of absence to participate on or coach the U.S. national team or an Olympic team, without requiring the coaches to forfeit their collegiate positions.

"The difficult charge of the committee has been to listen to different perspectives, from the national governing bodies in particular, and make recommendations that make sense for our membership," said James Watson, athletics director at West Liberty State College and Olympic Sports Liaison Committee member.

Watson notes that proposed changes in amateurism rules in Division II also factor into the equation.

"One of the things we must consider is how all of the proposed changes may affect our potential Olympians. And, we know that what might be good for one sport may not be good for another," he said, noting that, for example, female gymnasts typically participate in Olympic competition before college, while male gymnasts typically participate during or after their collegiate experience.

"I really see (the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee's) role as sorting through these kinds of rules and regulations to see what's best for both our student-athletes and our future Olympic champions."

Watson also noted that changes in amateurism rules on the USOC's part has been difficult for some to accept.

"Time has allowed us to accept the reality that you won't see a 1980 Lake Placid team of young hockey players again," he said. "I know that the change on the Olympics end was difficult for me to accept."

Many attitudes have changed over the years just as the rules have.

"What I have noticed the most is a change in attitude," Hamakawa said. "The old hard-line approach was that, 'We're not here to train and prepare elite athletes.' I think that has softened over time. There's a greater recognition that (the preparation of elite athletes) is a byproduct and a result of more competition and participation in college sport today."

Frazier agrees that the relationship between the USOC and the NCAA has improved immensely over the years.

"I kind of see things from both sides," he said. "And I can tell you that the NCAA has been actively and positively involved (in the Olympic movement) in a number of ways, and the USOC has looked favorably on the NCAA in recent years."

Frazier noted that the USOC's executive committee and athletes' advisory council both met in the NCAA conference center in Indianapolis during the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials, which were also held in Indianapolis.

"This would not have happened in previous years," he said. "I take it as an indication of how far we have all come."

Overcoming a stormy past

A number of books could be written about the NCAA's relationship with the Olympics and the different bodies that have governed the Olympics in the United States over the years.

The modern Olympic Games began in 1896, and were held again in 1900, 1904 and 1906, the year that the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS), the forerunner of the NCAA, was formed. There were Games again in 1908 and 1912, but the NCAA actually started getting involved in the Olympics with the 1920 Games.

The Association, which often had disagreements with the Amateur Athletic Union, often disagreed with the American Olympic Committee, an AAU-dominated organization that nominated and selected members of the 1920 U.S. Olympic team.

Over the next 50 years, the Association was at times critical of the Olympics organization in the United States. NCAA members even voted in 1972 to withdraw the Association as a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The NCAA called for a reorganization of the USOC, and issued a report titled "United States Olympic Crisis: The Problem That Won't Go Away."

The Amateur Sports Act, a federal law passed in 1978, reorganized the USOC and appointed it as the coordinating body for all Olympic-related athletics activity in the United States. The act also specified that the USOC had no power over college sports or over other organizations, such as the NCAA, which was once a concern of the Association's.

The USOC also was given the responsibility of promoting and supporting physical fitness and public participation in athletics activities by encouraging developmental programs in its member organizations, which included the NCAA.