COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Gold medal wrestler Rulon Gardner figures he's worked too hard for too long to be denied the support he deserves from the troubled U.S. Olympic Committee.

He and some other athletes think the USOC's leadership seems more interested in bickering about control than making sure the country's Olympians are prepared to bring home medals in 2004.

''It's tough on us to defend a group that keeps making the same mistakes over and over again and not be held accountable,'' Gardner said. ''They should be representing us like we represent them and holding us in the same high regard they expect us to hold them in.''

At a time when the focus should be on winning gold at the Athens Summer Games, there is a real distraction brewing in Colorado, where the USOC is based.

The group's leaders are busy attending Senate hearings and fighting for power behind the scenes. The executive committee meets in Chicago this weekend to begin the search for a new president.

Political intrigue and power struggles between volunteers and paid staffers have always been a part of the USOC. But the most recent scandal, which started with ethics accusations against chief executive Lloyd Ward in December, is sticky even for the USOC.

Since Ward was accused of trying to steer Olympic business to his brother's company, five USOC members quit, president Marty Mankamyer resigned and the organization's leaders have been called before Congress.

The scandals at the top certainly haven't kept American athletes from reaching the medals stand. The U.S. led the medal count with 97 at the 2000 Summer Olympics and set a team record with 34 medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

But the latest flap has some worried that the turmoil will eventually trickle down to the playing fields.

''It's unfortunate that the focus has shifted from the athletes,'' said figure skater Paul Wylie, a silver medalist in 1992. ''It would be a travesty if any of this ever affected the athletes.''

The first place athletes will likely feel the impact is through the sponsors. The national governing bodies for each Olympic sport rely heavily on sponsors' money for facilities, equipment and travel expenses.

Many of the larger sports like basketball, soccer and figure skating would be able to get by with the loss of one or two sponsors. But smaller sports can't afford cutbacks.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee investigating the USOC, is worried the scandals could turn off sponsors.

''That's tragic because the money they donate filters down to our young Americans. If we don't give them a chance because of infighting at the top, it's not the people at the top who are going to get hurt. It's the young people, and that's really tragic,'' Campbell said Friday.

''Who needs the USOC if we don't have athletes?''

Several of the USOC's biggest sponsors, which have contracts that run out after the Athens Games, have expressed concern.

David D'Alessandro, chief executive of John Hancock Financial Services, threatened to invoke a morality clause to void a $10 million deal unless the USOC accounts for its spending.

''It's kind of unfortunate because it has taken away from the athletes who are out there doing their best for their country and their sponsors,'' said triathlete Joe Umphenour, who lives and trains at the Olympic Training Center. ''Without our sponsors, we don't have anything.''

Most Olympic athletes are so focused on their training that they aren't aware of the problems at the top. That doesn't mean they haven't noticed a change in perceptions.

Because the USOC is so unwieldy, with 39 sports based in various parts of the country, the line between the dysfunctional leadership and the athletes often becomes clouded.

''It doesn't interfere with the everyday training of the athletes, but it affects the way people perceive the USOC,'' Gardner said. ''If there's one bad egg in the group, it makes everyone look bad. This organization shouldn't be about just one person.''