`WHY NOT?' MOST INSIDERS SAY IT'S NOT HER TIME TO BE IOC PRESIDENT. ANITA DEFRANTZ BEGS TO DIFFER.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

Anyone wondering about Anita DeFrantz, and her seemingly futile ambition to succeed Juan Antonio Samaranch as the International Olympic Committee president, does not truly know her.

Ask the former Philadelphia attorney what she would be doing if she wasn't the head of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles and one of the United States's four IOC delegates, DeFrantz slowly smiles before giving a telling response.

``My other career direction would have been to become one of the Supremes,'' DeFrantz said.

That's not a reference to Motown's singing group, but to Washington, D.C.'s highest court. That's how it is with DeFrantz. She aims high, regardless of obvious obstacles. And to say DeFrantz faces more obstacles than the other four candidates combined to succeed Samaranch would be an almost theatrical understatement.

The vote for the first new IOC president in 21 years is scheduled for Monday in Moscow. Belgium's Jacques Rogge is the slight favorite. Un Yong Kim of South Korea and Richard Pound of Canada also are considered strong contenders. IOC insiders give Pat Schmitt of Hungary and DeFrantz no chance.

Yet DeFrantz remains unbending in her effort to crack a historic old boy's club. There never has been an IOC president who was not a man. Never one that was an African-American. And in the wake of the Salt Lake City Olympic scandal, these are not the best of times for an American to pursue the IOC presidency.

DeFrantz, 48, sits behind her large desk at the AAF's headquarters and measures her words, which hardly is unusual.

``Tell me when a good time is?'' she asked. ``I am who I am. (Salt Lake City) is a part of our history. When's a good time - 1984, when we saved the Olympic movement by hosting the Games here in the private sector? There was no vacancy then and I wasn't an IOC member.

``I made a choice this was the time to run for me. I have a long history of civil rights in my family history, of respecting everyone. We are a global organization. I am very accessible, I'm very open, and that's what our movement should be.''

Hers is a platform of improved communication, between members and with the public; of aggressively battling performance-enhancing drugs; of developing a strategic financial plan; of openness.

Some in the IOC apparently are unsure what platform she is running on, see her confidence as aloofness, see her ambition as blinding.

The other IOC presidential candidates are all men, all at least 59. The term is for eight years, though four of the previous six presidents this century went on to hold the office for at least 20 years.

So when others suggest that if she is not elected Monday, her time eventually will come, DeFrantz scoffs.

``The time is now,'' DeFrantz said. ``After 21 years of one administration, the moment for change is now. It's an eight-year term. Eight years hence, we don't know. Right now is the time we need the kind of leadership that I can bring.

``This is when I'm running. This is the time I need the votes.''

The IOC has 122 members. A German newsletter dedicated to Olympic politics, Sports Intern, predicted she might get six votes. Sports Illustrated termed her a long shot. Some IOC members and a few friends have suggested she cut her losses and withdraw.

But those who truly know her know DeFrantz will not bow out. She is a competitor in all things, from the time she made the U.S. Olympic rowing team in 1976 and won a bronze medal in Montreal, to the time she went to court in a failed effort to stop President Jimmy Carter from boycotting the the 1984 Moscow Olympics.

DeFrantz said she's in this to win. The way she always has been.

Some have suggested she is headed toward an embarrassing defeat and should get out now, which former Olympic rowing teammate and close friend Jan Palchikoff finds mystifying.

``I'm not sure what's embarrassing about having this type of goal and potentially failing to reach it,'' said Palchikoff, now director of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corp. ``What's the embarrassment in that?

``On the contrary, to put herself in position of really striving for this, takes a lot of courage. It's not easy to be a leader. People get criticized all the time for taking directions that are new.

``It's difficult to be coming in from the outside. I believe she would be able to serve the Olympic movement really well. I'm glad she's made this run at it. I'm really proud of her doing it.''

DeFrantz already has broken ground. She is the first female vice president in the IOC's 107-year history. There are four vice presidents, each serving a four-year term, with the last year culminating as the first vice president - the IOC's second-highest ranking position. She currently is first vice president.

Yet there are only 13 women in the IOC, and despite gains in the Games themselves, their numbers are not swelling. Running for IOC president is a delicate endeavor, anyway. It's something of a quiet campaign. No publicity, no fund-raising, no fancy receptions in Moscow are permitted. The phone and mailed material marked confidential are the main means of communication with other members.

``The day of the election, the buttons are pushed,'' DeFrantz said. ``After every race, either I've won or not. And it is like a race. I've sent out communiques to all of my colleagues. I've done my best to reach them by phone. In person is significantly more difficult from the City of Angels.

``It's persuasion. I think it's my record, which has been consistent throughout. I've been willing to stand up for the Olympic movement. Consistently I have worked and dedicated my life to this, because I know it makes a difference.''

DeFrantz is an unabashed American - which likely will hurt her chances amid some anti-American IOC sentiment following Salt Lake City - and an unabashed Olympic supporter.

She traces the birth of her Olympic spirit to staying in the athletes' village in Montreal. She already was a practicing attorney in Philadelphia when her losing battle to compete in Moscow brought her back to the movement. In the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, she was a vice president with the organizing committee in charge of the Olympic Village.

The AAF was formed with a $94 million endowment from the surplus from those Games to promote Los Angeles-area youth sports. In 1987, DeFrantz was named the AAF president and has overseen giving out $110 million in grants, while building another $170 million in its investment portfolio.

``She's one of the brightest people that I've ever known,'' Palchikoff said. ``She has unfailing integrity and honesty, and commitment to doing what's right.

``She's very perceptive, very sensitive and appreciative of the variety of opinion and the context from which people originate. Those are outstanding qualities for anyone to have, but I think they would particularly serve someone well in the kind of leadership role she's seeking now.''

Yet as even Palchikoff, one of her biggest supporters, pointed out: It's a rare organization that makes a radical departure from a historic course.

Still, DeFrantz is determined to carry her cause into Monday's vote.

``When people ask me why I should be president, I usually answer - why not?'' DeFrantz said. ``I have the skills. I have the vision of what the IOC can be. I know the way the corporate sponsors view the opportunities. I know the government. Why not?''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) American Anita DeFrantz is one of five candidates bying for the IOC presidency.

(2) Few give Anita DeFrantz a chance in her campaign to replace outgoing IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch (behind). Some even are telling her to withdraw from Monday's election.

Herbert Knosowski/Associated Press