This story is free to read.

Chattanooga loses out on Olympic marathon trials due to conflict of interest

AP Photo / John Amis / Kevin Havel motions toward the crowd in 2020 while running in the U.S. Olympic trial marathon in Atlanta. AP Photo / John Amis / Kevin Havel motions toward the crowd in 2020 while running in the U.S. Olympic trial marathon in Atlanta.

By Ellen Gerst December 26, 2022 4 min read

Chattanooga lost its chance to host the Olympic marathon trials in 2024 after officials found a USA Track and Field board member was consulting with the city on its bid, Runner’s World reported this month.

The city was one of two finalists being considered for the trials, alongside Orlando, Florida.

In November, officials picked Orlando to host the trials after learning Jim Estes, a member of the USA Track and Field board reviewing potential sites, was a paid consultant on Chattanooga’s bid for the event. At the same time, according to Runner’s World, officials informed Chattanooga’s organizing committee that the city was disqualified based on the conflict of interest.

“In the end, while the circumstances were neither created by USATF nor condoned by USATF, the reputational damage to USATF and ultimately our athletes will be costly if we don’t disqualify the CLOC (Chattanooga committee) bid,” USA Track and Field CEO Max Siegel wrote in a letter to Chattanooga organizers provided to the Chattanooga Times Free Press by the Olympic committee.