Name Change for USOC

(ATR)The United States Olympic Committee is no more.

Citing a commitment to Paralympic inclusion, the USOC is now the USOPC – the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

The change was unanimously approved by the USOPC board of directors in its quarterly meeting and takes

effect immediately with updated marks on social and digital platforms.

Physical changes to signage at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Sites, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and all associated properties will be made as soon as possible with a goal of completion in 2020. The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame will be renamed the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame. Earlier this week, the board of the U.S. Olympic Museum agreed to the name change as well. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum is scheduled to open next year.

"It is much more than just a name change," said USOPC chair Susanne Lyons in a conference call with reporters. "It’s a reflection of our commitment to the Paralympics and to inclusion as one of our core values."

Four-time Paralympian Oksana Masters echoed that sentiment in her comments, adding that the announcement had her feeling like "a kid in a candy shop today".

Bonnie Blair, a four-time Olympian, believes that Olympians and Paralympians will learn from each other by being part of the same Team USA.

"Probably the Paralympians wind up having so much more of a creative way to train because of maybe some of the limitations they’ve had but those are things that could probably work for us."

The process to change the name grew out of the decision in September of last year to increase monetary awards for medal-earning U.S. Paralympic athletes to equal those made to medal-earning U.S. Olympic athletes. With this decision, Operation Gold Awards for U.S. Paralympians were increased by as much as 400 percent. U.S. Paralympians who earned a medal at the PyeongChang 2018 received retroactive payments for their performances and the award parity will be reflected in every Games moving forward.

While combining Olympic and Paralympic sport works for the USA, don’t expect every country to decide to manage both at the national level.

The Netherlands, South Africa and Norway are the only other countries that do so, and International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons says there is no plan to get more countries on board.

In response to a question from Around the Rings, Parsons said the IPC is not interested because such a system wouldn’t work in every country.

The IPC chief says the name change is important because it will help in growing Paralympics in the United States ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

"The U.S. is one of the most important markets in the world, if not the most important market when it comes to sport, and our presence here, to be honest with you, we are not where we want to be yet."

Written by Gerard Farek

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