The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for the United States. It was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The USOPC is one of only four NOCs in the world that also serve as the National Paralympic Committee for their country. The USOPC is responsible for supporting, entering and overseeing U.S. teams for the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Pan American Games, Parapan American Games and Junior Pan American Games and serves as the steward of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements in the United States.
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of mixing sports and politics in the U.S. The USOPC was reorganized by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, originally enacted in 1978.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.
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 on June 20, 2019, becoming the first Olympic Committee in the world to include the word Paralympic in its name.
History
Upon the founding of the International Olympic Committee in 1894, the two American IOC members – James Edward Sullivan and William Milligan Sloane – formed a committee to organize the participation of American athletes in the 1896 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece. In 1921, the committee adopted a constitution and bylaws to formally organize the American Olympic Association.
From 1928 to 1953, its president was Avery Brundage, who later went on to become the president of the IOC, the only American to do so.
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. 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.
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 (3 km) away – remains a U.S. Olympic Training Center.
In October 2007, the ARCO Training Center in Chula Vista, California (see below) was closed temporarily due to the Harris Fire, one of many that ravaged southern California.
After convening in 2010 the Working Group for Safe Training Environments,"The USOC Program" , safesport.org webpage, n.d. Retrieved 2013-03-16. the USOPC formed the Safe Sport program to address child sexual abuse, bullying, hazing and harassment and emotional, physical and sexual misconduct within its domain."The USOC Commitment" , safesport.org webpage, n.d. The commitment letter bears the signature of Scott Blackmun, USOC Chief Executive Officer. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
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"."US Olympic Committee: Don't be an Asterisk", YouTube, August 9, 2008. Uploaded by arattauna. Retrieved 2013-03-16."United States Olympic Committee and Ad Council Launch Anti-Steroid Social Media Campaign and National Sweepstakes" , Ad Council via Marketwire, February 07, 2011. In March 2013, link on the page to http://www.PlayAsteriskFree.com went to https://www.facebook.com/USOlympicTeam and one to https://www.facebook.com/PlayAsteriskFree went to https://www.facebook.com/home.php . Retrieved 2013-03-16.
The state-of-the-art United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum was officially opened in Colorado Springs on July 30, 2020.
The USOPC remains one of the only National Olympic Committees in the world to receive no government funding.
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. 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. Probst retired in 2019 and was replaced by Susanne Lyons.
Presidents President TermAlbert Spalding1900—1904David R. Francis1904—1906Caspar Whitney1906—1910Frederic B. Pratt1910—1912Robert M. Thompson1912—1920Gustavus T. Kirby1920—1924Robert M. Thompson1924—1926William C. Prout1926—1927Henry G. Lapham (interim)1927Douglas MacArthur1927—1928Avery Brundage1928—1953Tug Wilson1953—1965Doug Roby1965—1968Franklin Orth1968—1970Cliff Buck1970—1973Philip O. Krumm1973—1977Robert Kane1977—1981William E. Simon1981—1985John B. Kelly Jr.1985Robert Helmick (interim)1985Robert H. Helmick1985—1991Bill Hybl (interim)1991—1992LeRoy T. Walker1992—1996Bill Hybl1996—1999Sandra Baldwin2000—2002Marty Mankamyer (interim)2002Marty Mankamyer2002—2003William C. Martin (interim)2003—2004
Chairs Chairs TermPeter Ueberroth2004—2008Larry Probst2008—2019Susanne Lyons2019—2022Gene Sykes2023—present
Executive directors/CEOs Executive director/CEO TermJ. Lyman Bingham1950–1965Arthur Lentz1965–1973F. Don Miller1973–1985George D. Miller1985–1987Baaron Pittenger (acting)1987–1988Harvey Schiller1988Baaron Pittenger1988—1990Harvey Schiller1990–1994John Krimsky (interim)Aug 1994–1995Dick Schultz1995—2000Norm BlakeMarch—Dec 2000Scott Blackmun (interim)Dec 2000–2001Lloyd Ward2001—March 2003Jim Scherr (acting)2003—2005Jim Scherr2005—2009Stephanie StreeterMarch—Oct 2009Scott Blackmun2010—Feb 2018Susanne Lyons (interim)March 2018—January 2019Sarah HirshlandJanuary 2019—present
National Governing Body members 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. 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.