USOC to name training center after Stevens

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - The U.S. Olympic Committee will name a new training facility at its Olympic Training Center after late Sen. Ted Stevens, whose legislation set a template for the modern Olympic movement.

The Amateur Sports Act of 1978, later named after the Alaska senator, gave the USOC control over the Olympics and its brand in the United States and paved the way for national governing bodies to run the individual sports and choose Olympic athletes.

Stevens died in a plane crash in 2010 and was posthumously inducted into the USOC Hall of Fame last year.

The Olympic Training Center, originally opened in 1977, is being renovated and expanded, using land formerly occupied by USOC headquarters, which have moved to downtown Colorado Springs.