The U.S. with the change becomes the fourth nation to merge their Olympic and Paralympic teamsGETTY IMAGES
The USOC now will be called the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), a move that leaders say "puts sports for those with physical and intellectual impairments on the same level as those with exceptional abilities," according to a front-page piece by Tom Roeder of the Colorado Springs GAZETTE. The name change "will be visible in Colorado Springs soon, with several buildings getting new signs including the renamed Olympic and Paralympic Training Center and the soon-to-open U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum." The U.S. is one of only four countries to operate its Olympic and Paralympic team under a single organization, with the U.S. being "by far the largest of those nations." The name change "comes on the heels of a measure offered this week" by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) that would "empower a blue-ribbon panel to recommend other structural changes for the federally chartered committee." USOPC BOD Chair Susanne Lyons "hinted that larger changes are in store for how the Olympic Committee operates" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 6/21).
ON EQUAL FOOTING: In DC, Rick Maese noted the name change is just the "latest push to put the U.S. Paralympians on equal footing with Olympians." The USOPC BOD last year "voted to increase monetary awards for U.S. Paralympic medalists to match those earned by Olympic athletes." Medalists from the '18 Pyeongchang Paralympics were "retroactively rewarded more money, too, at that time" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 6/20). USA TODAY's Christine Brennan writes the USOPC is "taking a historic stand for what's right and good about U.S. sports" (USA TODAY, 6/21).
