Just finished a one-hour media conference call with the four “disgraced” U.S. Olympic cyclists who were excoriated by the U.S. Olympic Committee for wearing protective masks when arriving at the Beijing airport last month, and then threatened with expulsion from the Summer Games if they didn’t apologize, muy pronto.

An apology that was not written by the cyclists, and not even seen by them before it went out. That sweeping, humiliating apology to the Beijing organizers, the city of Beijing and the people of China. Yes, all 1.3 billion of them.

It all turned into what cyclist Sarah Hammer called “a nightmare” — of the USOC’s doing, but the athletes’ reckoning.

Regular readers of this blog may wonder why I’m interested in this at all.

It’s because I wrote several stories on Sarah Hammer, while in Beijing, for the Riverside Press Enterprise and the Temecula Californian. (Hammer is from Temecula, in Riverside County.)

From my limited dealings with her, I’ve decided Hammer is a very focused, intense athlete, and it’s not hard to imagine this public relations, quasi-political firestorm in her first 12-15 hours in China impacted her preparation for the women’s individual pursuit event. She was a medal favorite but finished fifth.

Said Hammer: “For me, the kid of person I am, I’m pretty quiet. I don’t like to get in a fuss about stuff, I prefer not to be in the media. I like to keep to myself. So this was kind of my worst nightmare. I get there and the emotional stress I went through when I first got there . . . Steve Roush (USOC director of sport performance) and Kelly Skinner (USOC director of sport partnerships) created a really negative environment.

“Walking over to meals or to sports medicine, people looking at you, staring at you, asking, ‘Where is your mask?’ Just getting made fun of. . . . Everyone responds differently, but for myself, it was my worst nightmare and we didn’t deserve this . . . For me now, even, I have a lot of sadness in my heart, still. I’m really upset about it. It’s really hard. . . . I don’t have that awful feeling because of my placing (fifth). For me, it was everything that went on there. it breaks my heart …

“This is something I had dreamed about forever, and it wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

The four cyclists, Jenny Reid, Mike Friedman, Bobby Lea and Hammer, were on the call, as were their lawyer, Chris Campbell and Mark Henderson, chair of the athletes’ advisory committee.

The cyclists recapitulated their treatment by Skinner and Roush, who excoriated them (Roush said they were “a disgrace” to the USOC, Lea said), and included Roush telling the four they had 2 1/2 hours to issue an apology or the matter would be “taken up at the next level” — which the athletes took as a threat to be kicked out of the Olympics.

They also said the “apology” issued under their names was not written by them nor, in fact, even seen by them before it was disseminated to media. (The statement apparently was written by USA Cycling publicist Andy Lee, perhaps with input from Roush.)

I have written earlier, on this blog, that the “process” was unfair and peremptory and represented an attempt by the USOC to shift all blame onto the athletes.

On the genesis of the apology (which Roush demanded during a surprise, 7 a.m. meeting the morning after the cyclists arrived), Hammer said, “What happened was, we went from Steve Roush’s office into our own media coordinator (Lee), who was going to draft the statement up. We made our feelings known: We were sorry if we offended anybody . . . but not sorry we wore the mask. We said that several times. . . . This went on for five or 10 minutes. We all left …

“I never saw anything before it was sent out. … Next thing I know, I saw Mike and he said. ‘Did you hear what was said?’ … “Me and Jennie were in tears at what was said. (It) 100 percent couldn’t be farther from the truth. …

“I had to take a couple days to get myself together because it was just out of control … we went from being harassed to words being put in our mouth sort of thing.”

Other points made by the participants:

–Why did the USOC refuse to acknowledge how poorly it handled the situation until two months had passed and the group was threatened by a lawsuit?

–The cyclists believe Roush and Skinner should have their roles examined, and perhaps disciplined or fired.

–They want the athletes ombudsman (John Ruger) to be present at all such disciplinary (or quasi-disciplinary) meetings. Ruger was not present for the meeting with Roush. In part, it seems, because he was not credentialed by the USOC to be in the Athletes Village.

–Their intent is not to make alibis for their performances in Beijing (none won a medal) but to ensure that the USOC doesn’t treat its athletes in such a high-handed fashion in the future.

Henderson said he hopes for a revision to the USOC bylaws to insist on the ombudsman being present.

He also wondered why the USOC — which issued the masks, and in fact asked Hammer to help test them, last year — didn’t stand up and take the heat.

Said Henderson: “Jim Scherr (USOC chief executive) could have said, ‘We gave these people the mask, we gave them information about the threat of pollution in Beijing, I didn’t say anything about them not wearing (the masks while) getting off the plane.’ It could have been simple.

“The problem is, it’s a recurring issue. … The first notion the USOC staff has to think about is talk to the athletes instead of reacting in an emotional state at the most emotional event in our quadrennium … You heard every one of them say the press release went out before they saw it. …

“These athletes deserve far better than this. They’ve given up their whole life for this one moment. It’s not too much to ask.”

My sense? The cyclists had the misfortune of being photographed wearing their masks, the photos got wide display, the USOC didn’t like the attention or the scrutiny and, fearing the whole team becoming the official pariahs of the Beijing Games (and the chance of Chicago hosting the 2016 Olympics perhaps impaired) they decided they would rather shift the blame onto the athletes. There were only four of them, and only one had a real shot at a medal, and it was only velodrome cycling, after all.

I applaud the athletes for standing up, for not letting this shameful incident slip into history. And perhaps some reform actually will be in the offing.

Said Friedman: “I received hundreds of hate messages to me, personally, and that’s something I shouldn’t have had to do this at Olympic Games. … Why should I have to sit in the hot seat? …

“I want to know who said ‘screw the athletes’ … I’d like to see steps preventing this from every happening again.”

For the full text of the USOC apology, click here.

For the text of the original apology from the cyclists, click here.

And if you’re interested in the New York Times version of this story, which will get a lot more attention than this blog item, click here.