COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — In a move designed to keep familiar faces in front of the folks considering Chicago as a site for the 2016 Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee on Tuesday voted to keep Peter Ueberroth involved in the federation through the selection process.

Ueberroth will serve as "President in an honorary capacity," a nonvoting position that isn't on the board of directors, when his term as chairman expires at the end of the 2008. The USOC board made the move to allow for smoother transitions in leadership. The term will last two years.

The board also created a new spot that will make Bob Ctvrtlik international first vice president, a renaming of a position that was created in 2006 to try to improve the USOC's international reputation. The move means Ctvrtlik can now stay in the federation after his term on the board expires.

The International Olympic Committee will award the 2016 Olympics in October 2009. Chicago is one of four candidates. The others are Tokyo, Madrid, Spain, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Ueberroth is the most recognizable face in the American Olympic movement's administration, widely credited with transforming the modern-day games from a troubled and red-ink-filled endeavor into what they are today — giant revenue producers and the biggest sporting event in the world.

The USOC wants to avoid losing the 70-year-old, a key architect of the Los Angeles Games in 1984, when his term is up.