The Olympic Movement is overseen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC is supported by 35 international federations that govern each sport on a global level and the 207 National Olympic Committees that oversee Olympic sport as a whole in their respective nations, and national federations that administer each sport at the national level (called National Governing Bodies, or NGBs, in the United States). The National Paralympic Committee is the sole governing body responsible for the selection and training of all athletes participating in the Paralympic Games.
The USOPC is one of 207 NOCs and 176 NPCs within the international Olympic and Paralympic movements. Forty-seven NGBs are members of the USOPC. Fifteen of the NGBs also manage sports on the Paralympic program (there are fewer Paralympic sports in the world). While the USOPC governs four Paralympic sports (cycling, skiing, swimming, and track & field), five other Paralympic sports are governed by U.S. members of International Paralympic Federations (wheelchair basketball, boccia, goalball, powerlifting, and wheelchair rugby).
Unlike most other nations, the United States government does not have a Ministry of Sports and does not fund its Olympic Committee. This is in part due to the taboo of mixing sports and politics in the U.S. The USOPC was reorganized by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, originally enacted in 1978. It is a federally chartered nonprofit corporation and does not receive federal financial support (other than for select Paralympic military programs). Pursuant to the Act, the USOPC has the exclusive right to use and authorize the use of Olympic-related marks, images and terminology in the United States. The USOPC licenses that right to sponsors as a means of generating revenue in support of its mission.[3][4]
Founded as the American Olympic Committee (AOC) and having been known since the 1960s as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the organization changed its name to the USOPC changed on June 20, 2019, becoming the first Olympic Committee in the world to include the word Paralympic in its name.[5]
History
U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters in Colorado Springs, ColoradoUnited States Olympic and Paralympic Committee logoTeam USA logoU.S. Olympic Team logo
In 1940, the AOA changed its name to the United States of America Sports Federation and, in 1945, changed it again to the United States Olympic Association. In 1950, federal mandate allowed the USOA to solicit tax-deductible contributions as a private, non-profit corporation. After several constitutional revisions were made to the federal charter in 1961, the name was changed to the United States Olympic Committee.
The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (later renamed in the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act) established the USOPC, then referred to as the USOC (United States Olympic Committee), as the coordinating body for all Olympic-related athletic activity in the United States, specifically relating to international competition. The USOPC was also given the responsibility of promoting and supporting physical fitness and public participation in athletic activities by encouraging developmental programs in its member organizations. The provisions protect individual athletes, and provide the USOPC's counsel and authority to oversee Olympic and Paralympic business in the United States.
The public law not only protects the trademarks of the IOC and USOPC, but also gives the USOPC exclusive rights to the words "Olympic", "Olympiad" and "Citius, Altius, Fortius", as well as commercial use of Olympic and Paralympic marks and terminology in the United States, excluding Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which fall under the authority of separate NOCs and NPCs.
One of the many revolutionary elements contained within the legislation was the Paralympic Amendment– an initiative that fully integrated the Paralympic Movement into the USOPC by Congressional mandate in 1998.
U.S. Paralympics, a division of the USOPC, was founded in 2001. In addition to selecting and managing the teams which compete for the United States in the Paralympic Games, U.S. Paralympics is also responsible for supporting Paralympic community and military sports programs around the country. In 2006, the USOPC created the Paralympic Military Program with the goal of providing Paralympic sports as a part of the rehabilitation process for injured soldiers.[6][7] Through the U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Program, USOPC hosted the Warrior Games for wounded service personnel from 2010 to 2014, until the organization of the event was taken on by the Department of Defense in 2015.[8][9]
The USOPC moved its headquarters from New York City to Colorado Springs on July 1, 1978. The USOPC headquarters moved to its present location in downtown Colorado Springs in April 2010, while the previous site – located just 2 miles (3km) away – remains a U.S. Olympic Training Center.
In February 2011, the USOPC launched an anti-steroid campaign in conjunction with the Ad Council called "Play Asterisk Free" aimed at teens. The campaign first launched in 2008 under the name "Don't Be An Asterisk".[13][14]
The USOPC remains one of the only National Olympic Committees in the world to receive no government funding.[16][17][18][19][20]
Governance
The USOPC is governed by a 16-member board of directors, led by a chairman, and has a professional staff, headed by a CEO. The USOPC also has three constituent councils to serve as sources of opinion and advice to the board and USOPC staff, including the Athletes' Advisory Council (AAC), National Governing Bodies Council (NGBC), and Multi-Sport Organizations Council. The AAC and NGBC each have three representatives on the board, while six members of the board are independent. The USOPC CEO and all US members of the IOC and IPC (Anita DeFrantz, James Easton, and Angela Ruggiero) are ex officio members of the board.
The USOPC named Scott Blackmun CEO on January 6, 2010. Blackmun previously served as acting chief executive officer (2001), senior managing director of sport (2000), and general counsel (1999). He also serves on the IOC's Marketing Commission and on the board of the National Foundation for Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.[21] He retired in 2018 and was replaced by Sarah Hirshland.
On October 2, 2008, Lawrence F. Probst III was elected chairman of the USOPC board of directors. Probst also serves on the IOC's International Relations Commission, a post he assumed by IOC appointment on March 10, 2011.[22] Probst retired in 2019 and was replaced by Susanne Lyons.
National Governing Bodies are organizations that look after all aspects of their individual sports. The NGBs are responsible for the training, competition and development of athletes for their sports, as well as nominating athletes to the U.S. Olympic, Paralympic, Youth Olympic, Pan American, and Para-Pan American Teams. There are currently 39 Olympic summer sport NGBs in the United States and eight Olympic winter sport NGBs.[23] Sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing were added to the Olympic roster of sports for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Some Olympic sports are not featured in the Paralympics, that is why there are more solely Olympic NGBs rather than those that manage both Olympic and Paralympic divisions. Additionally, some Paralympic sports, like wheelchair basketball, boccia, goalball, powerlifting, and wheelchair rugby, are governed by U.S. members of International Paralympic Federations.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation supported by American individuals and corporate sponsors. Unlike most other nations, the USOPC does not receive direct government funding for Olympic programs[24] (except for select Paralympic military programs).[citation needed]
The USOPC's main sources of revenue are television broadcast rights, sponsorships and philanthropy in the form of major gifts and direct mail income. Additional funding comes from the government for Paralympic programming, as well as other sources such as the city of Colorado Springs and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation.
The USOPC asks for contributions from time to time using public service announcements and other direct solicitations. Also, some proceeds from sales in its online store benefit the committee.
The USOPC currently does not hold telethons or other fundraising events, but has in the past.[25]
Criticism
There has been some financial conflict between the USOPC and International Olympic Committee (IOC), with some pointing out the frequent leadership changes of USOPC, and USOPC trying to broadcast the Olympics using its own television network, which the IOC discouraged. USOPC president Peter Ueberroth allegedly stonewalled a negotiation between IOC and USOPC to discuss the revenue sharing of the US broadcasts with IOC. Under a long-standing contract, the USOPC has received a 20 percent share of global sponsorship revenue and a 12.75 percent cut of U.S. broadcast rights deals (not that much given the fact that the USOPC is the only NOC in the world not to receive government funding, other countries fund their Olympic Committees, plus more than a half of the Olympic global sponsors are American companies, but the USOPC received only 20% (not 50%) of sponsorship revenue).[18][19][20] The IOC believed the USOPC share, set out in an open-ended contract dating to 1996, was excessive and should be renegotiated. The USOPC argued that it saved the Olympic movement by hosting the most financially successful Games in the history of the Olympics in 1984. In the 1980s, after the disastrous and unprofitable 1976 and 1980 Olympics, many believed the Olympic movement was in decline. However, the U.S. hosted the most financially successful games without government funding (unlike Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980) and revitalized the Olympic movement. The failure of the 2012 and 2016 US Olympic bids[26] was partly blamed by some on USOPC.[27][28][29] For instance, NBC television executive Dick Ebersol said after the failed 2016 bid, "This was the IOC membership saying to the USOPC there will be no more domestic Olympics until you give more to the IOC".[30] A new revenue-sharing agreement was signed in 2012.[31]
USOPC has also been criticized for not providing equal funding to Paralympic athletes, compared to Olympic athletes. In 2003, a lawsuit was filed by American Paralympic athletes Tony Iniguez, Scot Hollonbeck and Jacob Heilveil.[32] They alleged that the USOPC was underfunding American Paralympic athletes. Iniguez cited the fact that the USOPC made health care benefits available to a smaller percentage of Paralympians, provided smaller quarterly training stipends and paid smaller financial awards for medals won at the Paralympics. American Paralympians saw this as a disadvantage for Paralympic athletes, as nations such as Canada and the United Kingdom support Paralympians and Olympians virtually equally. The USOPC did not deny the discrepancy in funding, but contended that this was due to the fact that it did not receive any government financial support. As a result, it had to rely on revenue generated by the media exposure of its athletes. Olympic athletic success resulted in greater exposure for the USOPC than Paralympic athletic achievements. The case was heard by lower courts, who ruled that the USOPC has the right to allocate its finances to athletes at different rates. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court,[33] who on September 6, 2008, announced that it would not hear the appeal. However, during the time the lawsuit had lasted (from 2003 to 2008), the funding of Paralympic athletes more than tripled. In 2008, $11.4million was earmarked for Paralympic athletes, up from $3million in 2004.[32] In 2018, the USOPC announced it would increase its Operation Gold Awards for U.S. Paralympic athletes to be equal to payments earned by U.S. Olympic athletes.[34]
In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated that revealed that some 100 American athletes failed drug tests from 1988 to 2000, arguing that they should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics but were nevertheless cleared to compete; among those athletes were Carl Lewis, Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard.[35][36][37][38] Before showing the documents to Sports Illustrated, Exum tried to use them in a lawsuit against USOC, accusing the organization of racial discrimination and wrongful termination against him and cover-up over the failed tests. His case was summarily dismissed by the Denver federal Court for lack of evidence. The USOC claimed his case "baseless" as he himself was the one in charge of screening the anti-doping test program of the organization and clarifying that the athletes were cleared according to the rules.[39][40]
Carl Lewis broke his silence on allegations that he was the beneficiary of a drugs cover-up, admitting he had failed tests for banned substances, but claiming he was just one of "hundreds" of American athletes who were allowed to escape bans, concealed by the USOC. Lewis has acknowledged that he failed three tests during the 1988 US Olympic trials, which under international rules at the time should have prevented him from competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics.[41] Former athletes and officials came out against the USOC cover-up. "For so many years I lived it. I knew this was going on, but there's absolutely nothing you can do as an athlete. You have to believe governing bodies are doing what they are supposed to do. And it is obvious they did not," said former American sprinter and 1984 Olympic champion, Evelyn Ashford.[42]
Exum's documents revealed that Carl Lewis had tested positive three times at the 1988 Olympics trials for minimum amounts of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, which were banned stimulants. Bronchodilators are also found in cold medication. Due to the rules, his case could have led to disqualification from the Seoul Olympics and suspension from competition for six months. The levels of the combined stimulants registered in the separate tests were 2ppm, 4ppm and 6ppm.[39] Lewis defended himself, claiming that he had accidentally consumed the banned substances. After the supplements that he had taken were analyzed to prove his claims, the USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use, since a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain "Ma huang", the Chinese name for Ephedra (ephedrine is known to help weight loss).[39] Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants in their systems, and were cleared to compete for the same reason.[43][44] The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in 1988 but is now regarded as negative test. The acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five parts per million for other substances.[39][45] According to the IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10ppm were cause of further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed that "These [levels] are what you'd see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and are unlikely to have any effect on performance."[39] Following Exum's revelations the IAAF acknowledged that at the 1988 Olympic Trials the USOC indeed followed the correct procedures in dealing with eight positive findings for ephedrine and ephedrine-related compounds in low concentration. Additionally, in 1988 the federation reviewed the relevant documents with the athletes' names undisclosed and stated that "the medical committee felt satisfied, however, on the basis of the information received that the cases had been properly concluded by the USOC as 'negative cases' in accordance with the rules and regulations in place at the time and no further action was taken".[46][47]
In the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics, it was discovered that the American uniforms for the Games' opening and closing ceremonies, designed by Ralph Lauren, were manufactured in China. This sparked criticism of the USOPC from media pundits, the public and members of Congress.[48]
In 2018, the USOPC came under fire for its complicity in the sexual assault and abuse of women and girls at the hands of former USA Gymnasticsnational team doctor Larry Nassar.[49] Olympian Aly Raisman released a public statement accusing the committee of failing "to acknowledge its role in this mess."[50] In the wake of Nasar's convictions, more than 150 lawsuits are pending against people and institutions related to the case, including the USOPC.[51] In May 2018, the USOPC was accused of knowingly participating in sex trafficking in a class-action lawsuit. In response, the committee said it was "aggressively exploring and implementing new ways to enhance athlete safety".[52][53][54]
Training facilities
The grounds of the training facilities in Colorado Springs
The USOPC operates Olympic Training Centers at which aspiring Olympians prepare for international competition:
The main facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, offers both summer and winter sports training in a variety of sports. It houses the USOPC headquarters and many permanent athletic venues.
The ARCO Training Center in Chula Vista, California, offers training in various summer sports. The largest facility there is a lake for canoeing and rowing.
Although catered toward elite athlete training, these complexes are also open to the public (the only Olympic training facilities in the world to be open to the public) and offer a variety of services, including tours and regular camps and competitions for various domestic and international sport programs.
Additionally, the USOPC partners with 16 elite training sites across the country, to provide U.S. athletes with Olympic-caliber facilities that positively impact performance. Facilities with U.S. Olympic training site designation have invested millions of dollars in operating, staffing, equipment and training costs. These sites are often selected to host U.S. Olympic Team Trials and support Team USA athletes prepare for the Olympic Games.
Awards
The USOPC administers a number of awards and honors for individuals and teams who have significant achievements in Olympic and Paralympic sports, or who have made contributions to the Olympic and Paralympic movement in the U.S.[55]
USOPC Athlete of the Year – Awards are given annually to the top overall male athlete, female athlete, Paralympic athlete, and team, from among the USOPC's member organizations.
USOPC Coach of the Year – Awards are given annually to the top national, developmental, Paralympic, and volunteer coaches, and for achievement in sports science.
U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame – The Hall of Fame honors Olympic and Paralympic athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have demonstrated extraordinary service to the U.S. Olympic movement.
U.S. Olympic Spirit Award – This award is given biennially to athletes demonstrating spirit, courage, and achievement at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Jack Kelly Fair Play Award – Presented annually to an athlete, coach or official in recognition of an outstanding act of fair play and sportsmanship displayed during the past year.
Rings of Gold Award – Awards are presented annually in honor of an individual and a program dedicated to helping children develop their Olympic or Paralympic dreams and reach their highest athletic and personal potential.
Olympic Torch Award – Presented annually to an individual who has positively impacted the Olympic Movement and has contributed to promoting the Olympic Ideals throughout the U.S.
When a US athlete wins an Olympic medal, as of 2016, the USOPC paid the winner $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze.[56] The USOPC increased the payouts by 25% to $37,000 for gold, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze beginning in 2017.[57] These numbers are significantly lower than in other countries, where Olympic gold medalists receive up to $1 million from their governments for a gold medal.[58][59] Since 2018, payouts to Paralympic athletes have been the same as to the Olympians. The International Paralympic Committee noted that "'Operation Gold Awards' for [American] Paralympic athletes [would] be increased by as much as 400 percent."[60]
Partnerships
The USOPC generates support from two principal types of Olympic sponsorship: worldwide and domestic. Each level of sponsorship grants companies different marketing rights and offers exclusive use of designated Olympic and Team USA images and marks. Under the domestic sponsorship program, the USOPC also has special partnerships with various licensees, suppliers and outfitters that provide vital services and products to support Team USA. Across all levels of sponsorship, the USOPC is committed to preserving the values of the Olympic properties and protecting the exclusive rights of Olympic sponsors.
Worldwide
Created by the International Olympic Committee in 1985, the Olympic Partners TOP program is the highest level of Olympic sponsorship, granting exclusive worldwide marketing rights to the Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. Managed by the IOC, the TOP program supports the OCOGs, NOCs and the IOC.
Operating on a four-year term in line with each Olympic quadrennium, the TOP program features approximately 10 worldwide Olympic Partners, with each receiving exclusive global marketing rights within a designated product or service category.
US Domestic
The Olympic Games domestic sponsorship program grants marketing rights within the host country or territory only. Under the direction of the IOC, the USOPC manages the domestic program within the United States. Like the worldwide TOP program, the domestic sponsorship program operates on the principle of product-category exclusivity. Approximately 20 corporations currently participate in the U.S. domestic sponsorship program, which enables the USOPC to deliver increased funding and equitable distribution to National Governing Bodies. The establishment of these long-term domestic partnerships helps generate independent financial stability for American athletes while ensuring the viability of the Team USA on the international stage.
Licensees
The USOPC has granted licensing rights to nearly three dozen companies to manufacture and distribute official licensed products, which convey the rich history of American culture and commemorates the Olympic Movement. These companies are referred to as licensees and pay a royalty for each item sold bearing any related Olympic, USOPC or Team USA marks.
Media coverage
NBCUniversal has held the American broadcasting rights of the Summer Olympics since 1988, and the broadcasting rights of the Winter Olympics since 2002. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 Games. On May 7, 2014, NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract with the IOC to broadcast the 2022, 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030, and 2032 Games. As such, NBC Olympics is the IOC's, and by extension the Olympic movement's, highest revenue stream.[61] The IOC distributes Olympic broadcast revenue through Olympic Solidarity– the body responsible for managing and administering the share of the television rights of the Olympic Games. Under the current format, the revenue is allocated to the NOCs– including the USOPC– the local organizing committee and International Federations.[62]
In 2009, the USOPC and Comcast announced plans for The U.S. Olympic Network, which would have aired Olympic-sports events, news, and classic footage. However, the USOPC met opposition from the International Olympic Committee, which preferred to deal with NBCU (and its then-new Universal Sports joint venture). Later, Comcast purchased NBCUniversal, and eventually Universal Sports was discontinued, with interim programming agreements to air events on NBCSN and Universal HD made. On July 1, 2017, NBCUniversal launched the Olympic Channel on the former channel space of Universal HD; the USOPC is a partial operating partner in the network with the NBC Sports Group and it contains archived content from the USOPC.[63][64]
Relationship between IOC and USOPC
In May 2012, USOPC's leaders negotiated a resolution with the IOC, addressing a decades-long revenue sharing debate and paving the way for a peaceful future between the two bodies. The new agreement elevates the USOPC's global perception and restructures how worldwide Olympic sponsorship and U.S. TV revenues are shared, while providing for USOPC contributions to Olympic Games costs.
The agreement, revising 27-year-old terms governing the USOPC's shares of worldwide Olympic sponsorship and U.S. broadcast rights revenue, preserves the USOPC's future revenue at current levels and includes an escalator for inflation. Under the terms of the new agreement, the USOPC is guaranteed seven percent of the U.S. broadcast revenue and 10 percent of the IOC's global sponsorship revenue. The agreement guarantees the USOPC approximately $410 million per quadrennium, plus inflation and a percentage of revenue from new growth areas, beginning in 2020.[65]
The International Olympic Committee is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC is the authority responsible for organizing the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics. The IOC also is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and of the worldwide Olympic Movement, the IOC's term for all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. As of 2020, 206 NOCs officially were recognized by the IOC. The IOC president has been Thomas Bach since 2013.
The modern Olympic Games are the world's leading international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition, with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating. By default, the Games generally substitute for any world championships during the year in which they take place. The Olympic Games are held every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.
The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent doping in the United States with a performance-enhancing substance, the USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, and oversees the results management process. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USADA is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonizes anti-doping practices around the world, and is widely considered the basis for the strongest and strictest anti-doping programs to prevent doping in sport.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games. They may nominate cities within their respective areas as candidates for future Olympic Games. NOCs also promote the development of athletes and the training of coaches and officials at a national level within their geographies.
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Lake Placid, New York. Formerly, the USOPC also had a third OPTC in Chula Vista, California, which is now the city-owned Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. There is a U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Michigan, and other official U.S. Olympic/Paralympic training sites are located in Oklahoma City and Edmond, Oklahoma; Carson, California; Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte, North Carolina; the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, Wisconsin; a USRowing training center in Oakland, California ; Huntsville, Texas and the SPIRE Institute and Academy near Geneva, Ohio.
USA Weightlifting, otherwise known as USAW, is the national governing body overseeing the sport of weightlifting in the United States. USAW is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), responsible for conducting weightlifting programs throughout the country, and a member of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). Top competitors are selected by USAW to compete in major international events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Junior Championships, Pan American Championships and Pan American Games.
United States of America Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It sets the domestic rules and policies that govern the sport, promotes and develops gymnastics on the grassroots and national levels, and serves as a resource center for members, clubs, fans and gymnasts. It selects and trains the U.S. national teams for the Olympic Games and World Championships.
USA Shooting (USAS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was chartered by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting's mission is to prepare American athletes to compete at the Olympic Games, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S., and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. The organization implements and manages development programs and sanctions events at the local, state, regional, and national levels.
The Amateur Sports Act of 1978, signed by President Jimmy Carter, established the United States Olympic Committee and provides for national governing bodies for each Olympic sport. The Act provides important legal protection for individual athletes.
The USOPC Athlete of the Year awards are part of a series of awards presented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to athletes who have distinguished themselves in one of the Olympic or Paralympic sports. Awards are presented to the Olympic or Paralympic SportsMan of the Year, SportsWoman of the Year, and Team of the Year.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, has participated in every Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and is currently first on the all-time medal table. The nation used to be a dominant Paralympic power in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but has steadily declined since the 1990s to a point where it finished sixth in the 2012 Summer Paralympics medal count. The team then improved to a fourth-place finish in 2016, and third in 2020, and unexpectedly finished first at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
USA National Karate-do Federation is the national governing body (NGB) of karate for the United States Olympic Committee and as such is the official Member National Association (MNA) of the World Karate Federation (WKF) in the United States.
Athletes have competed as independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come from North Macedonia, East Timor, South Sudan and Curaçao following geopolitical changes in the years before the Olympics, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a result of international sanctions, from India and Kuwait due to the suspensions of their National Olympic Committees, and from Russia for mass violations of anti-doping rules and, in addition to Belarus, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
The four-man bobsleigh competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia was held at the Sliding Center Sanki near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia on 22–23 February 2014.
Robert Griswold is an American swimmer. He was a member of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Teams. He holds multiple American and world paralympic swimming records in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and individual medleys. He competes in the Paralympic classes S8/SB7/SM8, and has cerebral palsy that affects coordination and strength. The United States Center for SafeSport temporarily suspended Griswold in 2020, reinstated him prior to the 2021 Paralympic Games, and then temporarily suspended him again in 2022, after he was accused of raping a fellow member of the US Paralympic Team at the 2021 Paralympic Games and thereafter; Griswold was later removed as a member of the US National Team.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum (USOPM) is a historical and cultural sports museum located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, first opened on July 30, 2020. The museum is part of the City for Champions development project in Colorado Springs, though it licenses the Olympic name and operates separately from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). The museum recognizes Olympic and Paralympic athletes who have represented Team USA.
Francis Donald Miller was a United States Army colonel, executive director of the USOC, a national collegiate champion boxer, and U.S. Olympic Boxing Team head coach.
Sarah Hirshland is the chief executive officer of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. From 2011 to 2018, she was a senior managing director and the chief commercial officer of the U.S. Golf Association.
↑ "The USOC Commitment"Archived April 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , safesport.org webpage, n.d. The commitment letter bears the signature of Scott Blackmun, USOC Chief Executive Officer. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
↑ "Team USA Fund". Team USA. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
↑ As of yet, the only telethon was Olympa-Thon '79, which took place on NBC from primetime on April 21 through late night on April 22 in 1979. Participants included the reunited duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, O. J. Simpson among other US Olympians.
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