USA TODAY International Edition
Olympic leaders choose inclusion amid exclusion
As acronyms go, “USOC” is one of the best known in American sports. It stands for the United States Olympic Committee, but you already knew that. Who doesn’t? I’ve written and said those four letters thousands of times myself in the 35 years I’ve covered the organization.
As of today, they’re gone.
In a wonderful message of inclusion that resonates far beyond the fields, courts, tracks, pools and gyms of the U.S. Olympic movement, the USOC board of directors unanimously voted Thursday to rename the organization the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
The change was immediate: USOC chief executive officer Sarah Hirshland’s account on Twitter instantly became @USOPC_CEO.
At a time in our country when there are those in high places who would prefer to divide us, to choose exclusion and omission over cooperation and understanding, the USOPC is taking a historic stand for what’s right and good about U.S. sports, and by extension, U.S. culture.
“This change represents a continuation of our long-standing commitment to create an inclusive environment for Team USA athletes and quite frankly to set a tone and to set an example for inclusion in our society and around the world,” Hirshland said on a conference call.
“(Sport) is a very important institution in society as a values driver, as this is one of the critical values and sport has the ability to unify, and so, yes, we must hold ourselves to a high standard of setting an example not just for those in the movement itself but for all those who enjoy it, watch it and participate in it.”
Asked if she was sending a message to anyone in particular, she replied, “Well, I would say everyone is a big word.”
U.S. athletes started competing in the Paralympic Games in 1960. There were 24 American athletes that summer in Rome; last year in the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, 73 U.S. athletes won 36 medals.
Last September, the USOC board began its journey toward this moment when it voted to increase monetary awards for medal-winning U.S. Paralympic athletes to equal those made to U.S. Olympic athletes who won medals. Because of that decision, U.S. Paralympians who earned medals in Pyeongchang received retroactive payments for their performances.
“This is a historic moment for the Paralympic movement in the United States,” Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, said on the conference call. “To see the USOPC make this inclusive statement by changing its name demonstrates the true parallel nature of the Olympic and Paralympic movements.”
It also says something quite important about the power of open-minded sports leadership in these divisive American times.