Olympic Act Legislator Dies in Plane Crash

If your BMX radar is tuned to anything Olympics-related, you have surely heard of the “Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.” This 1998 law, sponsored by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, outlines the very method by which the United states operates its Olympic program.

Sen. Stevens was killed in a plane crash today in his home state of Alaska. He was 86. He was the longest-serving republican senator in history, with 40 years of service (1968-2009). In a twist of unfortunate irony, Sen. Stevens had survived a plane crash before. On December 4, 1978, the LearJet carrying he and his wife, Ann, among others, crashed at Anchorage International Airport. Mrs. Stevens was one of five killed in that accident. The Senator remarried in 1980 and was married to his second wife, Catherine Ann Chandler at the time of his death.

The legislation he sponsored has been called the “Constitution of the US Olympic program.”

Download: Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act