Below is the audio recording from the U.S Olympic and Paralympic Committee leadership press briefing on Wednesday, October 9, following the board of directors meeting via teleconference.
TRANSCRIPT
Operator:
Good day everyone and welcome to today's USOPC board briefing. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. Please note today's call will be recorded and I will be standing by should you need any assistance. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Kate Hartman, chief External Affairs Officer for USOPC. Please go ahead.
Kate Hartman:
Thanks Chloe and good afternoon everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Our board just wrapped our third meeting of the year and because it's getting late, we'll just jump right into things. A couple of housekeeping reminders. As always, we will do brief remarks to start and then we'll open up the line to Q and A with both Sarah and Gene. As part of the Q and A I just ask that you introduce yourself, the outlet you're with, and then we will limit one question per turn and if we have time we will come back for additional questions. So as I said, I'm joined today by Gene Sykes, our president and USOPC board chair, and Sarah Hirshland, our CEO of the USOPC. And Sarah, we're going to turn things over to you.
Sarah Hirshland:
Great, thank you Kate. Good afternoon, good evening everyone. Before we ask Jean to provide an overview of today's meeting, I just want to take a moment to congratulate him on his election to the IOC this summer. International representation is a critical component of our contribution to the health of sport across the globe and it's also important to the success of Team USA. Gene and his role as USOPC board chair has led by example engaging in important discussions while never losing sight of our awesome responsibility of serving team USA back here at home with Gene now as an IOC member joining David Haggerty and Anita DeFrantz and now with the election of Allyson Felix to the IOC Athletes Commission. Our voice internationally is stronger and heading into a decade where we host the world twice. That's a very important responsibility. So Gene, thank you for giving of yourself and your time in these important roles and let me turn the microphone to you.
Gene Sykes:
Well, thank you very much Sarah for the very kind words. It's an honor to serve in this role as USOPC board chair and now as a member of the IOC. I take these responsibilities very seriously and I recognize that we can be very impactful on the lives of athletes and sport broadly in the roles that we play in these two very important institutions. It's no secret of my appreciation for you, Sarah, and for the work you do in leading the USOPC staff in service to our athletes and the NGBs. And now I get to extend my congratulations to you on your election last week as vice president of Pan Am Sports at the Pan Am General in Paraguay. Echoing your point about the importance of representation of American leaders in sports in the international sports community, this is a tribute to the regard in which you are held by these people in the broad international community.
We have many important days ahead of us and as always, I look forward to our partnership. Let me turn to the business of our board meeting today. We're coming off another productive and informative board discussion held virtually this week and my thanks go to all of the board members for their commitment and expertise. I'll start things off by providing you with an overview of what we discussed in the board meeting and then ask Sarah to give an update as well. As always, we appreciate you taking the time to join us. We have some changes moving forward that I'd like to share with you today. First of all, our very talented friend, Cheri Blauwet, who has been a board member for eight years on the board of the USOPC, will come to the end of her tenure at the end of this year. Cheri never ceases to amaze us with her advocacy for athletes, their health, their opportunities, and of course with a focus on Paralympic sport.
Her leadership is exemplary. She will be going far and we know she'll be working with us very soon and often, but we want to honor her time and service on the board. Daria Schneider, who was first elected as an athlete rep to the board in 2021, has been reelected for another four year term, which will begin at the beginning of next year. She brings great athlete perspective and experience to the board and we congratulate her on her reelection. For those of you in the know of course, Daria is the head fencing women's and men's fencing coach at Harvard University and her athletes were extraordinarily effective in the games in Paris. I'm also pleased to share that Donna de Varona and Dexter Payne representing athletes and NGBs respectively have also been reelected to four year terms starting in January of 2025. Also by virtue of our election to the IOC, both Allyson Felix and myself respectively become members of the USOPC board by virtue of our IOC position for Allyson.
This is of course a new position for me. I will no longer be on the board as an independent member, but as a member of the IOC. So this means that in addition to the independent seat opened up by Cheri's retirement, we will also have a second independent seat open. The process of vetting candidates for the board has begun and we look forward to introducing new members in the near term. Lastly, John Naber who was elected by the athletes to a four year board term has resigned his seat and we will now look to team USA's, AC and the USOPA leadership, the USOPA leadership that is to lead the process of electing a new athlete representative to fill that vacancy and see the remainder of the term ending in 2026. We thank John for his service to the Team USA community.
Second topic is turning to Salt Lake City 2034. We had planned an update with our friends from Salt Lake City 2034, including an overview of next steps as they look to transition from an organization focused on being awarded the games to an organization prepared to host the games. This is of course with a 10 year runway. They had a wonderful visit this last week with the IOC President and his key staff and as a future host, NOC, we applaud the leadership of the work they are doing and the way in which they're engaging with the community. I was pleased to join in these conversations and we had several meetings with local and state leadership in Utah as well. The passion for winter sports truly lives on in Utah, bolstered by the incredible legacy of 2002 and being advanced by the vision of Fraser Cat and the entire team.
There's a lot to be excited about and having traveled to venues which were used in 2002 and are used today for the community, you can see that Utah is very much behind winter sport and behind Winter Olympic sport. This will be a great games in 2034. We didn't have a formal update from LA28 today, but our focus remains squarely on the working partnership we have with our friends and colleagues there. Reynold Hoover has embraced the role as CEO of LA28 at this critical time, taking the helm of an organization that is transitioning fully into operational and execution modes. Very exciting to watch this organization evolve. Our coordination is close as is their coordination with the IOC and the coordination committee led by Nicole Hubbard. They will meet again next month in Los Angeles. The terrific Paris 2024 games has increased excitement and expectations. Some people say it's set the bar high, but actually I think what it's done is to increase the high level of expectations and the tremendous enthusiasm for the games and the expectation that Los Angeles will be a remarkable experience for us all.
During his visit last month, President Bach and the IOC team toured the SoFi Stadium, where swimming will be competed as well as the brand new Intuit Dome which will host basketball. In fact, Steve Ballmer, who is the owner of the Clippers for which the Intuit Dome has been constructed will argue forcefully as Steve argues in all cases, that this is the best basketball arena in the world and will be for at least the next decade. I highlight these two venues because they're truly world-class innovative venues. They play key roles in the 28 games and they raise the athlete and fan experience to an incredibly high level. As you can imagine, we spent a good amount of time in our meeting today reflecting on Paris 2024 and the experience of the athletes in the organization there. In that endeavor I'm very proud to share we're extremely proud of the performance of Team USA athletes and of the USOPC staff and the NGBs who go above and beyond to ensure the best possible experience. They are supportive on and off the field of play for the athletes. It was a huge operational lift, but I can confidently say that the performance across the board was exemplary. It was great games, a great showcase for the Olympic and Paralympic sports, and a reminder of just how impactful this movement can be and how unifying the experience of the games can be for people within a country. A country of France came together around the games and for people from all around the world. Our thanks and appreciation go to Tony Estanguet, the head of the Paris Games, his staff and the volunteers in Paris 2024, to the people of France and fans from around the world who came together for a great summer of sport.
And to our wonderful friends and partners at NBC who brought the Olympic and Paralympic games to life in new and exciting ways here in the United States, they truly helped drive this interest in celebration around team USA and we're incredibly happy to have worked with them and for their great success in what I think has to have been one of their most remarkable games experiences. This leads us to tell all of you, we can't wait to see everyone in Milano-Cortina and of course to welcome the world to LA in 2028. I'm now happy to hand the call over to Sarah for further updates and we'll be happy to answer questions when we open the line later on this call.
Sarah Hirshland:
My apologies. Okay, thank you Dean and thanks everyone for your patience. Good day to you all and thanks for taking some time to be with us. You can imagine it was fun today to gather as a board for the first time since the Paris Games and to spend a little time together sharing feedback about our respective experiences in Paris. And as a general matter, we are very pleased with the results from Paris. Team USA by all measures was outstanding across sports, across disciplines, across Olympic and Paralympic competition. The numbers really speak for themselves and we are just incredibly proud. Number one on the medal table with 126 total medals, number one on the gold medal table with hundred and 40. Number one in total number of medalists with 206, excuse me, 256 athletes earning medals for Team USA. And with the focus on personal best at the games, 79% of Team USA athletes hit that metric and that's an important thing as we want to continue to push higher and higher as we plan and prepare.
On the Paralympic side, number three on the medal table with 105 total medals, number three on the gold medal table with 36 medals and number two in total number of medalists with 127 athletes earning medals for Team USA. And in addition to the performance of Team USA athletes, we're so proud of the reaction we received from the American public, whether viewership, numbers, social media engagement, the common theme we keep hearing is how these games inspired our nation. That is certainly something that we always hope to achieve. And as you all know, the effort that goes into executing this is massive. So allow me a moment to just reflect on the scale of the contributions that drove our success. It goes back years, crosses over many milestones and comes to fruition in moments at the games. I couldn't be more proud of our people and our community, they're dedicated and their passion is matched by expertise across a full spectrum of support for athletes.
From high performance coaching, training, planning to medicine, focusing on physical health, mental health, on the ground collaboration, keeping athletes healthy in the villages at the High Performance Center and in all of our venues. These teams made a huge operation success in the village and at our High Performance Center. Both of those are world-class operations and we believe best in the world and a competitive advantage for Team USA. And the staff at Team USA House who welcomed thousands of guests over two games. And I'll note our first time ever having a Team USA house at the Paralympic Games was quite a celebration in the heart of Paris. It felt a bit like the largest sports bar for Americans in Paris and it was a fun place to be. I just can't say enough about all of this work and the fact that now they're quickly turning their attention to a games a little less than 500 days away, followed by the first home summer games since 1996.
Of course, we will continue in the process of learning and digesting all that we can from these games, but as I just noted, it's time to turn our attention to Milano-Cortina. We are 484 days away from the opening of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, it's coming quickly. Hard to believe that the athletes and teams are hard at work. Winter qualification is upon us and athletes are embarking on the most critical season of this journey. Operationally, the planning is well underway with teams already on the ground many times and more heading to Italy this fall to help map out the Team USA footprint. Among our winter athletes, excitement is building as familiarity with the sport culture in Italy is well-known and many will compete in Italy during their upcoming World Cup seasons. It all leads to anticipation for Team USA in 2026 and we are excited and look forward to helping tell their stories on the road to the games as we go through making Team USA and working with the National Governing Bodies to help them achieve their best when the time comes.
And finally, as you heard Gene mention last week or two weeks ago now, we welcomed IOC president and his senior staff to Colorado Springs just at the end of September. They toured the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center here as well as the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, a first time visit for many of them. We talked at length about Team USA, the role we play at the games. Our role is stewards of the movement here in the United States, but also globally. You've heard both Gene and I eager to help support our international partners around the world. It's a role we cherish and we take seriously and we're particularly excited to be welcoming the games back to the U.S. twice in a decade. We believe it will be transformative for the Olympic and Paralympic movement here in the United States, but also around the world. It's been a wonderful and very busy year so far, and I want to thank everyone who made the Paris Games a resounding success, including the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee and certainly our partners at NBC. And I want to thank everyone on this call for your coverage as athletes were named to Team USA, as they competed in Paris and as they returned home. Now we shift to the winter sports calendar and there is much to be excited about. And with that, I'll pause for today and we can open it up for questions.
Kate Hartman:
Thanks Sarah. Chloe, can you open up the line for questions?
Operator:
Certainly at this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press the star and one on your telephone keypad. You may withdraw yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two and once more for your questions, that is star and one. And as a reminder, we do ask that you limit yourself to one question and you may re-enter the question queue for any follow-ups if time allows. And we'll take our first question from Rachel Bachman with the Wall Street Journal. Your line is open.
Rachel Bachman:
Hi Sarah and Gene, this is for both of you. Thanks so much for your time. This is a question about SafeSport, Ju'Riese Colón has said that she needs 10 million more dollars a year to meet the current demand for cases. Would the USOPC agree to fund the center beyond the 20 million that Congress already mandates it to pay?
Sarah Hirshland :
Hi Rachel, this is Sarah and I have to tell you that's the first I've heard that, I've not had that conversation with Ju'Riese. Although I do believe I'm scheduled to meet with her here in the coming weeks and I'll certainly look forward to the conversation. Our goal, as you know, is to do what we can to help make them successful and in fact, to help spread some of their expertise in other areas. So I look forward to the conversation with Ju'Riese.
Operator:
We'll move next to Rich Perelman with the Sports Examiner. Your line is open.
Rich Perelman:
Thank you. This one is for Gene, I think. Gene, you placed yourself along with others in the middle between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the continuing war of words. Can you talk about what your plan is or the plan is to try and bring the temperature down?
Gene Sykes:
Sure. Thank you Rich. It's a good question. It gets a lot of attention for sure. I would say the temperature has already come down somewhat. I think both parties have decided they'd be a little bit more respectful of each other even when they disagree about some things. And we've seen a little less name calling, a few less allegations and several things have happened to help that. On the one hand, the special investigator, Mr. Cottier from Switzerland who had investigated and reported out preliminarily on the WADA actions has issued his final report. His final report is actually much more detailed and describes a number of, if you will, unusual procedures that CHINADA did not follow and is fairly critical of CHINADA and then observes that WADA could make some improvements in its own processes. That opens up an opportunity for more discussion about how to improve the process to make the anti-doping system more effective.
That is something that we have thought would be the opportunity for the two parties to begin to talk about things they agree on. So that's promising. At the same time, USADA is not in this alone. There are other anti-doping agencies that have signed on with USADA to say we'd like more transparency and more effort to understand the WADA process. So I actually think this is healthy. The discussions between the parties or discussions, which are, I think as I say, being more respectful. And that goes a long way toward arriving at conclusions where we're focused on improvement. And I think that will yield a benefit that is good for the anti-doping system. Good for WADA, and I am optimistic about that.
Operator:
And once more for your questions. That is Star and one, we'll move next to Lisa Roche with Desert News. Your line is open.
Lisa Roche:
Thank you Gene and Sarah, I'm just wondering what the USOPC thinks about the venue changes we're already seeing here for 2034. With the Delta Center home to NHL hockey now becoming the hockey venue and the former hockey venue, the Maverick Center in West Valley City, taking figure skating and short track. I'm wondering what you think of it and if that will improve the chances of the NHL playing on American ice in the 2034 Winter Games. Thank you.
Sarah Hirshland:
Hi Lisa. Thanks for the question. This is Sarah. Look, I think we can be pretty excited about the venue plans that are underway and starting to materialize as real in the Utah area. It promises to continue to elevate the innovation, both the experience for the athletes who are participating in those venues, but also the experience for spectators and that's all a really good thing. When you look at 10 years out, It's exciting to be in a place where we are today knowing that some of these things are coming and that there's actually the time to bring them to life and to facilitate that for a games environment. As it relates to the NHL playing, we're excited about 2026 and the conversations that the IOC and the organizing committee in Milano-Cortina have had with the NHL. We are certainly ready to have a very competitive hockey Olympic Games and I hope that that holds and we continue to see the best players in the world in those games as we get to 2034
Operator:
And once more for your questions, that is star and one, we'll move next to Rachel Axon with Sports Business Journal. Your line is open.
Rachel Axon:
Thank you both for taking the time. I think the question would be better for Sarah. You mentioned Milano-Cortina only being 484 days away. I'm wondering how you're working through some of the logistical challenges just by the spread out nature of those venues. Things like USA House, High Performance Center and any of the support and Team USA wraparound things you have for the athletes in that game.
Sarah Hirshland:
Yeah, thanks for the question. I mean, you raised the right question and an important point that essentially the footprint will look different around the Milano-Cortina games than the way we approached Paris. Because the landscape is different. It is a bit more fragmented in its geography and that will require us operationally to take a different approach both to supporting Team USA athletes, but also to how we think about hosting guests from the United States. So we will do that in a bit of a fragmented way as the geography sort of requires it. And it's a great question, Rachel.
Operator:
And we'll take a follow up from Rich Perlman with the Sports Examiner. Your line is open.
Rich Perlman:
Thank you so much. This one is for Sarah. There's been considerable chatter on the Romanian side and some comments from you about discussions between you and the Romanians regarding the Jordan Chiles's situation and the floor exercise bronze. What is the plan, if you will, going forward, or is there going to be an approach made to the IOC executive board in December to solve this once and for all, or are you going to wait for the Swiss Federal Tribunal?
Sarah Hirshland:
I can't predict exactly what the outcome will be, but as you know, we filed with the Swiss Federal Tribunal and we intend to pursue all the options that we have available to us to support Jordan. And we're really collaborating closely with her, with her team, with USA gymnastics and the team there to ensure that we all understand all the various dynamics here. But as you know, we've filed, we believe she's earned the bronze, and our hope is that that will be the outcome. I can't speak to timing and I certainly can't speak to an outcome that comes in another path, but we are keeping an open mind and at the same time very focused on the support of Jordan.
Operator:
This does conclude the question and answer session of today's call. I would now like to hand it back to Kate for any additional or closing remarks.
Kate Hartman:
Thank you so much. Thank you everyone for joining us today. As always, the recording and transcript will be made available as soon as we get it at USOPC.org/media. And for this next update, I can hear all of you saying too soon, but we have in fact opened accreditation for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and we are transitioning our media hub to focus on those games. So please get your information in, you get to spend all that extra time with John and I. We know you love that. And you will be able to find updated processes on those deadlines soon on USOPC.org. So again, thank you for joining us. We know it's getting late. Enjoy your evening and we'll talk to you soon. Bye.
Operator:
This does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time and have a wonderful evening.