Palisadian and local sports marketing attorney Maidie E. Oliveau has been named one of 12 attorneys worldwide’and one of two Americans’to serve on the Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to settle disputes that arise during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, covering such areas as drug testing results, athlete eligibility and judging issues. This marks the third time that Oliveau has been honored to serve on the Ad Hoc Division of CAS, having previously done so in Sydney and Salt Lake City. Out of nine attorneys who served in a similar position for the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, she is one of four invited back to join the Tribunal for the Athens Olympics, and she is the only female on the Ad Hoc Division of CAS, which was established by the International Council of Arbitration for Sport as the final arbiter of all Olympic Games-related disputes. At the games in Salt Lake City, the Ad Hoc Division heard the case of the highly visible controversy involving the Russian/Canadian pairs skating. After the CAS issued an injunction regarding the judges and their records, the IOC gave the Canadian pair a second set of gold medals. Oliveau has represented sponsors, event organizers, television broadcasters, sports associations and other rights holders for more than 20 years. Oliveau established her firm in 1990 and has since negotiated and/or administered nearly 200 deals totaling over $500 million, including such high profile transactions as the sponsorship and negotiations for the L.A. 2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and Pacific Bell’s sponsorship of the San Francisco Giants and naming rights to their ballpark, Pacific Bell Park. Oliveau began her career in sports in 1979 at ProServ, Inc., where she represented professional athletes Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Tracy Austin, Mitch Kupchak and Tai Babilonia. She also produced a weekly, half-hour TV show, Sports Probe, that aired on USA Network.
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