{{Short description|National federation for contract bridge in the United States}} The '''United States Bridge Federation''' ('''USBF''') is the national federation for contract bridge in the United States and a non-profit organization formed by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and the American Bridge Association (ABA) in 2001<ref>{{OEB|7|17}}</ref> to hold the United States Bridge Championships and to select, train, and support Open, Women, Senior and Junior teams to represent the United States in international competition.
The USBF receives support for its teams from the ACBL International Fund and Junior Fund, its membership dues, contributions and entry fees for the USBCs.
== Organization == 2018 officers.{{when?|date=November 2014}} * President: Marty Fleisher * Vice President: Josh Parker * CFO: Stan Subeck * Secretary & COO: Jan Martel
The President and the Vice President are elected for 2-year terms.{{cn|date=November 2014}}
==Olympic recognition==
Originally,{{when?|date=November 2014}} the USBF was also created to support the World Bridge Federation (WBF) efforts to obtain Olympic recognition for bridge. Following August 2002 recommendations by the Olympic Programme Commission, bridge and chess were {{when?|date=November 2014}} recognized as "mind sports" by the International Olympic Committee but they were not found eligible for the main Olympic program.<ref>{{cite web|title=Review of the Olympic programme and the recommendations on the programme of the games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008 |url=http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_527.pdf |date=August 2002 |author=Olympic Programme Commission |publisher=IOC (olympic.org) |access-date=2014-11-05}} <br> Sections 2.5, "Mind Sports" and 3.3.2, Sports ineligible through the position of "mind sports" in relation to the Olympic Programme (pp. 8 and 15).</ref>
On April 19, 2005, three years after that negative Commission report and three years before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing whose program was its focus, four mind sports including bridge and chess established the International Mind Sports Association with primary purpose to organize quadrennial World Mind Sports Games approximately alongside the Olympics.<ref>[http://www.imsaworld.com/wp/about-imsa/history "History"]. IMSA – International Mind Sports Association (imsaworld.com). Retrieved 2014-11-05.</ref> <!-- that's a 5-line blurb, with linked JPG copy of the 1-page 2005-04-19 founding Declaration; our IMSA article links two copies of an important early document (PPT, 20pp or so, as i recall), both dead 2014-11-05 -P64 --> The inaugural, 2008 World Mind Sports Games were held in Beijing during October, two months after the Summer Olympics and using the same facilities. The second, 2012 WMSG were held in Lille, France, entirely unassociated with the London Summer Olympics—smaller than in 2008, with a much smaller bridge program including no individuals, pairs, or youth events.
==See also== * List of bridge federations
==References== {{reflist |25em }}
==External links==
* {{official }} * [http://www.ababridge.org American Bridge Association] (official) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120907040537/http://www.acbl.org/index.php American Contract Bridge League] (official)
{{WPCBIndex}}
Category:Contract bridge governing bodies Category:Contract bridge in the United States Bridge