CHICAGO -- Lloyd Ward will forfeit a $184,800 bonus for an ethics violation that sparked yet another U.S. Olympic Committee scandal, but he will remain as the group's chief executive officer.

The USOC's executive committee voted 16-1 Saturday to accept the recommendation of its compensation committee, which included a ''strong letter of reprimand.''

USOC approves two new training sites for athletes

CHICAGO -- The U.S. Olympic Committee's executive committee approved two new training sites Saturday, including the first for paralympians. The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles and the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Ala., were designated official training sites. The USOC already has three training centers and an education center, as well as four sport-specific training sites. The Home Depot Center, on the campus of California State University-Dominguez Hills, is owned and run by Anschutz Entertainment Group. It will provide training for soccer, track cycling, tennis and track and field, said Tim Leiweke, president of AEG. The center will have a 27,000-seat soccer stadium and nine additional fields; an 8,000-seat tennis stadium that could be expanded to seat 13,000, eight show courts and 30 additional courts; and a 20,000-seat track-and-field stadium. An indoor Olympic velodrome also is being built, Lieweke said, and will be completed in time to play host to the 2004 junior world championships. Lakeshore Foundation has a 45-acre campus that includes two pools, a tennis center and a multipurpose gym. The center already has produced 17 paralympians, dating to 1988, said Jeff Underwood, Lakeshore's president. -- The Associated Press

No formal vote was taken on Ward's job, but the committee said its actions were an expression of support.

''Lloyd screwed up. I can't say it any clearer,'' said Bill Martin, the USOC's interim president. ''But we've got to get beyond that. Lloyd has performed, you heard it. I'm not going to repeat it. We have the faith in him and we're going to go forward with him.''

Said Ward: ''I think this was a very fair and thoughtful judgment. I accept it fully and I am looking forward to moving on with the sport of Olympics and the support of our athletes.''

The executive committee will shift its focus Sunday to the search for a new president, but the Ward question will almost certainly come up again later this week, when Congress holds a second hearing on the USOC's turmoil.

President Marty Mankamyer stepped down Tuesday because of the latest scandal, and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell has already called for Ward's resignation, too.

''It's like a boil: You can't just stick a Band-Aid on it,'' Campbell said Friday. ''It has to be taken care of before it can heal. I just don't see how it can heal with some of the players involved.''

But Martin said the USOC's executive committee is firmly behind Ward.

''We have confidence in his ability to lead the organization,'' Martin said. ''We think that Lloyd Ward has suffered, we believe we've suffered, but it's time to move on.''

Ward agreed.

''I've paid, and unfortunately, the Olympic movement itself has paid,'' he said. ''It's time for us to get on with it and build for the future.''

The current crisis started with Ward's membership at all-male Augusta National. Ward said he would work from within to get the club to admit women, and the executive committee voiced its support at a November meeting.

''Augusta isn't going to change based on my resignation,'' Ward said Saturday. ''It's not going to happen.''

Ward was then accused in December of trying to help his brother's company arrange a deal to supply power generators to the 2003 Pan American Games. The deal was never closed.

The executive committee gave Ward a mild reprimand Jan. 13, but no vote was taken on whether he should keep his job. Five USOC members, including ethics compliance officer Pat Rodgers, resigned in protest over the committee's decision.

But the executive committee did agree to send the investigation to the compensation committee, which decides bonuses for Ward and other top executives.

''Some of us felt that sending it to the compensation committee signaled we had a problem,'' said Anita DeFrantz, International Olympic Committee delegate.

The compensation committee first examined Ward's overall performance and whether he'd met a series of objectives established by the USOC. It decided he had achieved ''overall excellent performance,'' making him eligible for a $184,800 bonus.

But then the committee examined the ethics report of the incident involving Ward's brother, and decided that his ''errors in judgment -- by creating the appearance of a conflict and in failing to disclose a potential financial interest of his brother -- constitute violations of the USOC Code of Ethics.''

As punishment the committee decided Ward should not receive his bonus, and the money would be put toward the USOC's athlete support program.

Political intrigue and power struggles between volunteers and paid staffers are nothing new to the USOC. But the recent turmoil has been bad -- even by USOC standards.

Counting Martin, the group has had three presidents in the last 11 months and three CEOs since 2000. The departures haven't exactly been pretty, either.

Mankamyer stepped down after colleagues claimed she was trying to oust Ward in a bid for more power. She also was accused of demanding partial commission from a real estate agent who sold property to Ward in 2001, when she was still a USOC vice president.

Ward's predecessor, Norm Blake, lasted just nine months before resigning in 2000 amid internal strife. Mankamyer's predecessor, Sandy Baldwin, left her post in April after she admitted lying about her academic credentials.

And there's still the Congressional investigation to contend with. The committee, led by Sen. John McCain, chided the USOC for its incessant infighting, and threatened to change a leadership that has been a revolving door in recent years.

One likely target is the USOC's 123-member board, which most agree needs to be trimmed. McCain, Campbell and Sen. Ted Stevens, who helped create the act that chartered the USOC, also plan to visit the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to view the USOC's operations and talk with athletes.

''I can't undo what's been done, but I can redouble my efforts going forward,'' Ward said. ''And I'm committed to doing that.''