Key Progress & Reforms

We logged over 200 specific independent report-driven recommendations for change in our organization as leader of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic community, and thoughtfully considered these suggestions from our athletes and other stakeholders—including many of our critics. We then got to work integrating reforms that can positively change our organization and by the end of 2019, had completed, begun implementation of, or otherwise addressed nearly 90% of these suggestions.

In 2018, we commissioned the independent firm Ropes & Gray to investigate how specific instances of abuse occurred in the sport of gymnastics and what were the roles of the USOPC and USA Gymnastics in failures to stop them earlier. Their unfettered forensic analysis of this crisis was a sobering lesson, which we published immediately and in its entirety, even as it helped us understand where we needed to do better.

While we had already undertaken a number of changes, 2019 was a transformative year marked by our commitment to continue to listen and build on our progress from the past year while setting our future direction.

We also commissioned another report from an independent party, developed internal task forces, engaged with stakeholders on their recommendations—including Congressional inquiries—and expanded our strategic planning process to include athlete perspectives.

• The Athlete & NGB Engagement Commission, also known as the Borders Commission after chair and former WNBA President Lisa Borders, released a comprehensive report outlining specific and wide-ranging recommendations for improvements in USOPC structure and operations to address how we can more effectively interact with and oversee our diverse member NGBs, and support and engage with the athletes we serve.
• The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security released a full investigative report, along with findings and recommendations. The USOPC voluntarily and actively participated in the inquiry, which included four subcommittee hearings, interviews with Olympic officials, athletes and survivors, and the review of over 70,000 pages of documents voluntarily provided by the USOPC. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations undertook a similar thorough inquiry and issued an important report in late 2018.
• We used these reports to further inform our priorities and clarify our focus on athletes and NGBs.
• We also conducted a thorough and collaborative strategic planning process that included input from our stakeholders, and we built a roadmap to guide our future journey and decisions—one that will lead us in serving our athletes and our community as we deliver on our mission. Our transparency on our strategic plan will also hold us, and empower others to hold us, accountable in its execution.

An important part of the ongoing reform process will be the Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2019, a bill introduced by Senators Jerry Moran and Richard Blumenthal in July 2019, and approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in November. This is an important bill aimed at increasing the voice of athletes and strengthening the USOPC’s oversight of the Olympic and Paralympic community in the U.S. While the legislation had yet to officially pass at the close of 2019, we continue to broadly support the bill, which is consistent with many of the reforms our organization had already implemented or began to shape in 2019.

On June 20, 2019, we officially changed our name to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, to better reflect the diversity of Team USA athletes.

We made some of the most sweeping governance reforms the USOPC has ever seen via a multi-stage rewrite of the USOPC bylaws in place beginning in November, underscoring our commitment to athlete representation, athlete safety and governance best practices.

• These reforms—which reflected consensus recommendations from the independent and Congressional reports—created greater avenues for athlete representation in our organization and ensured a strong athlete perspective in USOPC governance.
• They were defined over months of work by a multi-stakeholder working group, including athlete and sport organization leaders, ensuring they reflect the best combined thinking of our Olympic and Paralympic community.
• They included increasing the number of athlete representatives—including the addition of retired athletes—from 20% to 33% on our board of directors and committees, and allowed for direct election and re-election of athlete and NGB representatives from the Athletes’ Advisory Council, NGB Council and U.S. Olympians & Paralympians Association.
• The reforms also increased our accountability for oversight of NGBs by instituting a new NGB certification program based on expanded audits and strengthened requirements.
• Additionally, the reforms more clearly defined specific updates, rights and obligations of the AAC, NGBC and USOPA, as well as the role of the Athlete Ombudsman.

We sharpened our focus on serving the whole athlete and updated our mission statement to include clear emphasis on athlete well-being along with sustained competitive excellence.

We intentionally doubled down on thinking first about the impact on Team USA athletes in every decision we make. To that end, we:

• Instituted new leadership and built an effective and diverse executive team.
• Created the athlete services division to better support Team USA athletes in safety, wellness, engagement and communication, while establishing clear separation between the oversight of athlete care and sports medicine from performance.
• Provided more clarity and transparency to Team USA athletes about available USOPC resources and services.
• Collaborated with the Athletes’ Advisory Council to establish effective mechanisms for continuous improvement in athlete support, while strengthening the alumni association and AAC functions.