With pressure "mounting on Congress to overhaul" the USOC, CEO Sarah Hirshland "struck back against the organization's critics, calling upon athlete representatives from the 50 Olympic sports to hold their peers and former Olympians accountable," according to Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. In a "nearly 1,000-word letter to the 138 members of the USOC's athlete advisory council," Hirshland acknowledged the "issues facing the USOC in the wake" of the Larry Nassar scandal and other sex abuse incidents. However, Hirshland also "charged critics of the USOC with making false accusations about the USOC's recent board selection process." Hirshland wrote, "I am reaching out to ask for your help. ... We need your candor and transparent views. We need your leadership, organized and aligned behind a unified voice so that we know athletes' input is well represented. We expect you to hold us accountable. We also expect you to hold your peers accountable -- accountable to telling the truth, living up to the commitments we make to one another and to regularly engaging in a respectful and open-minded way." Hirshland's letter was in "response to a statement released Friday by nearly 50 Olympians calling for a major reorganization of the USOC" and the "near-complete resignation of the USOC's senior administration" and BOD. The Committee to Restore Integrity co-Chair Ed Williams "called Hirshland's letter 'outrageous.'" Fellow co-Chair Nancy Hogshead-Makar said, "Hirshland's letter accuses Team Integrity of saying things that were not true, essentially calls Team Integrity liars, while failing to identify specific lies" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 1/8).
