U.S. candidate for IOC president offers little insight; July 16 vote will determine new leader.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

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MIAMI _ The International Olympic Committee makes two momentous decisions this summer about its leadership and China's bid for the 2008 Games, but Anita DeFrantz doesn't provide much enlightenment on either.

DeFrantz's evasion is curious considering she's running for IOC president. She showed more backbone in 1980, when, as an Olympic rower, she led the U.S. athletes' protest of Jimmy Carter's decision to boycott the Moscow Games.

DeFrantz finally gets her trip to Moscow, but as an IOC vice president. The first woman and first black to seek the presidency, she's considered the long-shot candidate.

Juan Antonio Samaranch steps down July 16 in the same city where he was elected in 1980.

The race among his five would-be successors is shaping up to be as intriguing as the five-city derby for the 2008 Summer Games.

The co-favorites are Canada's Dick Pound and Belgium's Jacques Rogge. Pound, 58, an erudite Montreal tax lawyer and former Olympic swimmer, …