Most American athletes in a recent poll said that the Tokyo Games couldn't go on fairly as scheduledSARAH HIRSHLAND
While the USOPC "lagged behind other national Olympic committees, and its own athletes, in calling for a postponement" of the Tokyo Games, the feedback it received from athletes was a "sign of improved, if not fully repaired, relations between the committee and Team USA competitors," according to Rachel Bachman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said that the exchange was a "silver lining for Olympics in the U.S. during a very difficult time for the Olympics world-wide." Hirshland: "A year and a half ago we were not in a position where we would have had that kind of feedback and input." Bachman notes Hirshland on Monday issued a joint statement with USOPC BOD Chair Susanne Lyons that said that the organization "favored postponing" the Tokyo Games. It "cited a recent poll it had taken of American athletes, most of whom said the Olympics couldn't go on fairly as scheduled." USOPC Athletes' Advisory Council Chair Han Xiao said, "Although we would have preferred to get to the final result more quickly, it was clear that the athlete perspective significantly informed and impacted the USOPC's change in stance throughout the weekend. Hopefully, we can keep some positive momentum moving forward in continuing to improve support for our athletes." Bachman notes prominent gymnasts and other athletes "still express anger and frustration with the USOPC and Congress is still investigating its past missteps," but the "increased engagement with athletes at a tense moment in Olympic history shows improvement" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/27).
MISSED OPPORTUNITY? In N.Y., Futterman & Keh note with the U.S. being "one of the last large organizations to join the clamor for the move, athletes are questioning how leaders who were brought on to more effectively listen to and support athletes took so long to hear what they were saying." Xiao said, "We did have an opportunity to be leaders on the issue, and I feel like it was a little bit of a missed opportunity." Gold Medal-winning triple jumper Christian Taylor said, "At some point, with the survey or without, the Olympic committee should have recognized that the Games should not have gone on." As for the frustration of U.S. athletes who wanted a harder and earlier public push toward postponement, Lyons said that she "believed she and her organization are more effective when they lobby the IOC privately." Lyons added that she and Hirshland have "work to do to establish a level of trust with the country’s Olympians." Tokyo will be their "first Olympic Games leading their organization." Lyons: "Most of them haven't met me. They haven't met Sarah. They are not a party to the conversations we are having. In a vacuum you have trouble trusting leadership" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/27).
RIGHT, BUT HARD, CALL: Hirshland said the decision to postpone the Games was "clearly the right decision, but that doesn't make it any less difficult for many of our athletes." Hirshland told NBC's Mike Tirico that the USOPC "began to make some pretty difficult decisions early last week as restrictions started to be put in place for us here domestically around our own training centers and around the training restrictions put on our athletes." She said, "We started to understand those implications more and more as we got into the middle of the week. It became clear that these restrictions were not going to be for a short period of time, and at that point we started to work toward making sure that we weren't only hearing either from the athletes who were training or competing in our training centers, but all of them around the country” (NBCSN, 3/26).
