In a rare challenge to the U.S....

In a rare challenge to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s nominating committee, 15 member organizations combined efforts to place Los Angeles lawyer Michael Lenard on the ballot for president opposite Bill Hybl.

Lenard, 41, is a 1984 Olympian in team handball serving his second term as a USOC vice-president. Hybl, 53, of Colorado Springs, was the committee’s interim president in 1991 and ’92 and was the choice of the nominating committee to succeed LeRoy Walker as president when his term expires this fall.

Sources close to the nominating process, who did not want to be identified, said they believe the Oct. 27 election will be divisive as Lenard and Hybl are seen to represent different philosophies on the future of the USOC. “There was a dissent within the nominating committee, so this seems to be an outgrowth of that,” one said.