Any employee in the service of the state shall be granted olympic competition leave from employment without loss of pay to participate in olympic competition sanctioned by the United States olympic committee. Participation in olympic competition shall include duties as a coach, judge, official, or athlete.

(A) Length of leave. Olympic competition leave shall not exceed the aggregate time required for reasonable precompetition training at the competition site, actual participation in the competition, and reasonable travel time to and from the competition site.

(B) Compensation. Pay for each week of olympic competition leave shall not exceed the amount the employee would receive for the employee's standard work week as defined in section 124.18 of the Revised Code. The employee shall not be paid for any day spent in olympic competition for which the employee would not ordinarily receive pay as part of the employee's regular employment.

(C) Additional leave. An employee, having been granted olympic competition leave, shall be granted personal leave of absence without pay or, if entitled to vacation leave and if such leave is requested, shall be granted vacation leave in order that the employee may remain at the competition site until the close of the competition. If the employee does not indicate that accrued vacation leave is to be used, or if the employee has not accrued any vacation leave the employee shall receive leave of absence without pay for this time.

(D) Written request. To request olympic competition leave, the employee must submit a request in writing to the appointing authority. This request must be submitted thirty calendar days prior to the effective date of the leave being requested. If the employee is selected less than thirty calendar days prior to the effective date of the requested leave, the employee shall make the request for olympic competition leave within one week of such selection. The request shall include:

(1) Proof of selection signed by an official of the United States olympic committee.

(2) Dates of official precompetition training at the competition site.

(3) A list of the employee's competition events together with dates of actual competition. If the event is one in which contestants compete until eliminated, making it impossible to precisely indicate all days of actual competition prior to taking the leave, the employee shall submit a list of the days on which he actually competed upon return from the competition.

(4) Dates of travel time to and from the competition.

(5) If entitled to vacation leave, a statement that such leave is to be used as indicated in paragraph (C) of this rule.