Audio & Transcript: April 2025 USOPC LEADERSHIP PRESS BRIEFING

Below is the audio recording and transcript from the U.S Olympic and Paralympic Committee leadership press briefing on Thursday, April 17, following the board of directors meeting via teleconference.

AUDIO

TRANSCRIPT

Kate Hartman:

Thank you so much and good afternoon or I guess good morning depending on where you are joining us from. In just a minute, I'm going to turn things over to our board chair and President Gene Sykes and our CEO Sarah Hirshland who will join us and begin with opening remarks. As always, following their remarks, we'll open the line for questions, but we just ask in the interest of time that you limit one question per turn so we can accommodate as many of you as possible. Of course, if time allows, we'll circle back and take additional questions, but in the spirit of fairness, we would like to keep it to one per turn. With that, I'm going to turn things over to Gene Sykes to kick things off. Gene, the floor is yours. 

Gene Sykes:

Thank you very much Kate and hello everyone. It was great to be together as a full board this week. My thanks go to all the board members for their commitment and for offering their time and expertise to the USOPC. This was our first board meeting of the year and the first after wrapping up an incredible year in 2024, an incredible year for team USA and for the Olympic and Paralympic movements. Of course, even with a great year behind us, our focus is on the future and the opportunity of Milano Cortina on the near horizon and it being a host NOC twice in one decade. This happens really once in a generation. I'll start things off today by providing you with an overview of what we discussed at the board meeting and then Sarah will give an update as well. As always, we appreciate your taking the time to join us this morning.

We officially welcome two new board members this week, Dr. Vivek Murthy and Olympian, Adam Nelson. Vivek joined this board briefly in 2020 after serving as U.S. Surgeon General under President Obama from 2014 to 2017. Then he was asked to return to the same position by President Biden in 2021 and he stepped down from our board. We are thrilled that he didn't stay away and he came back. His insights as a health professional are enlightening and we certainly value his expertise and drive as we look for ways to improve and enhance athlete support in physical and mental wellbeing. Adam Nelson joins us as an at large athlete chosen through a joint nomination process that included the U.S. Olympians and Paralympian Association as well as the Team USA Athletes Commission. He was ultimately elected to his seat through a vote by the Athletes Commission members. Adam is an accomplished athlete who's had multiple medals to his name, including a gold medal in shot put from the Athens Olympic Games. 

He brings great insights into the athlete experience with a focus on clean and fair sport. We thank Adam for giving us his time and passion and to the AC and the alumni members for managing a very good nomination process. Vivek and Adam joined Mung Chiang, the president of Purdue University, who we announced as an independent member of the board in December of last year. With those three members now with us, I'm pleased to say we have achieved a full board with every seat filled as determined by our bylaws. As chair, I'm very thankful for this group and excited about our work of meeting the great obligation of supporting Team USA athletes and advancing the Olympic and Paralympic movements. One of the key topics in our agenda yesterday was to discuss the feedback we received from the State Department regarding the president's executive order, 14201. 

As a board, we reaffirmed our commitment to protecting opportunities for athletes to participate in sport. We will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities. They include the IOC, the IPC, the International Sports Federations, our own NGBs, the NCAA and beyond. We'll continue to collaborate with these organizations to ensure that women have a fair and safe competitive environment. The board is dedicated to maintaining an open and ongoing dialogue and we will actively engage on this topic as discussions evolve. We're happy to comment further when we open the line to questions. We had our regular update from the leadership of the LA28 games as they move forward with their plans to welcome the world to Los Angeles. It's no secret they've shifted into operationalizing their work and it's very exciting to see their ambitious games and commercial plans come together. Just this week we celebrated some new venue confirmations and as it expected, they are great reflections of what LA has to offer from Trestles Beach in San Clemente and Orange County for surfing, to Dodger Stadium for baseball.

The athletes of the world and the fans who cheer them on will have a very special experience in LA. On the commercial side, new partners are coming on board and with exciting visions for supporting LA28 and Team USA. The team has secured well more than one billion in sales and surpassed the halfway point for our commercial revenue targets. Importantly, we're confident there are more deals to be announced on the immediate horizon. They're seeing very, very strong momentum. The work across the games and commercial efforts continues in earnest, but there is energy around these games and it's very exciting to see it come together. I want to close by acknowledging the election of our friend decorated Olympian and accomplished leader Kirsty Coventry as the President of the IOC in March. As many of you know, Kirsti competed for Auburn University in Georgia and led Auburn to two NCAA titles in swimming when she was a swimmer for Auburn. We're thrilled to work with Kirsti and maintain the great sport and cultural momentum achieved in Paris and to grow our presence and impact globally as we enter what will be a transformational decade of sport. We also share again our sincere thanks to President Thomas Bach for his leadership. He has led the IOC with skill and focus. He was and remains a friend and confidant and for all that we're very, very appreciative. I'm happy now to hand the call over to Sarah. 

Sarah Hirshland:

Thank you Gene and good day everyone. Thank you for being with us today. As Gene mentioned, this is our first board meeting of the year and it served as an opportunity for the board to truly shift to forward looking planning for Milano Cortina on the very near horizon and of course LA28 and even Utah 2034. There is a great deal happening in the Olympic and Paralympic world, so let me take a few minutes just to touch on a few highlights. Certainly exciting for all of us and many of you have likely seen this update earlier today, but we are pleased to officially confirm the news that USA Football has been certified as the national governing body for the sport here in the United States. This distinction marks a significant milestone as USA football is the sport's first national governing body ahead of the debut of men's and women's flag football at LA in 2028. 

They become the 52nd NGB overall and the 38th on the summer side. I want to personally congratulate USA football CEO Scott Hallenbeck for this achievement and for his team's commitment to the process. They have worked very hard to meet the standards of certification and that includes assurances around athlete support, high performance work, team selection and doping and SafeSport standards. Many of we ask a lot of these national governing bodies because we want them to be successful in their mission of serving athletes and helping each of them achieve their sporting potential. We also want them to be organizationally stable and healthy for the longterm benefit of the sport. Scott has already been a great partner and we are collectively very excited about the health and growth of flag football in particular. Congratulations to USA football and welcome to the Olympic movement. 

Team USA is also nearing the end of wrapping up a great winter season. Just a few highlights, we've all watched the continued excellence by Chloe Kim, including clinching a third snowboard halfpipe world championship title and securing her spot on the U.S. team for the 2026 Games. Dor those who watched Team USA delivered a historic performance at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston. Capturing gold in three of the four disciplines, a feat we have not achieved since 1996. Quite exciting for us to see the potential there. Team USA also thrived at the 2025 IBU Para Biathlon World Championships, securing a total of five medals, three gold and two bronze. Kendall Gretch, an athlete. I encourage you to get to know, dominated the women's sitting events, achieving a clean sweep with three gold medals. I want to give a special shout out to all of our winter national governing bodies and the USOPC High Performance teams who have once again raised the bar as we enter the final stages leading to toward the Milano Cortina games. What we are seeing on the slopes, on the track and on the snow and ice is the product of not only great committed athletes, it's also the product of strong collaboration in high performance planning, in talent development, in physical and mental health support. All of these together culminating in execution at the very highest levels. What we're seeing in performances that make us extremely excited about the prospects for Team USA in Milano Cortina, in sports where we've been traditionally strong and also in sports where we've just been just off the podium. It's exciting to be part of and though we still have some time before the game, the trajectory we're seeing is right where we want it to be. 

Gene and I also spent some time in Washington D.C. last week where we met with legislators, legislative staff and representatives of the Trump administration. These are important meetings for the USOPC. Team USA has enjoyed bipartisan and bicameral support throughout our history and relationships in Washington remain very important as we work collectively on topics important to Team USA, to global sport, event hosting and more. We're thankful to so many who spent time with us to discuss the Team USA ambition, our mission, the direction of the USOPC and our plans for the next decade as we stare ahead at LA 2028 and Utah 2034 among the most important priorities. And last but certainly not least, it's been just over a month now since the announcement, but I want to honor and celebrate NBC Comcast's renewal of the Olympic rights in the United States through 2036. Simply put, this is great news for the movement and for Team USA. NBC is the home of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and is a partner that continues to contribute to the growth and health of Olympic and Paralympic sport year round. They had a great summer in Paris with record numbers driven by innovation that really served new and existing fans in new and existing ways. We are thrilled by this extension and can't wait to continue to work together now and through 2036. 

In closing, I'm happy to report that while we are enjoying the success of Team USA and the Paris Games still, we are very much focused on all that's ahead of us and the incredible opportunity for U.S. athletes and fans to experience Olympic and Paralympic sport. It's been a fun and busy start to the year for Team USA and we have much to look forward to. At this stage I'll close and it's time to answer your questions. Thank you very much.

Operator:

Thank you so much and at this time if you would like to ask a question, please press the star and one on your telephone keypad. You may withdraw your question at any time by pressing star two. Once again, to ask a question, please press the star and one on your telephone keypad. We'll take our first question from Rich Perelman with the Sports Examiner. Please go ahead. Your line is open. 

Rich Perelman:

Thank you. Good morning. I'm not sure if this is for Sarah or for Gene. Can you update the status of the certification of the surfing national governing body please? 

Sarah Hirshland:

Hi Rich, this is Sarah. The process is ongoing. So many groups stepping forward with interest in managing that sport program. We have a defined process and we are underway in that process so that there are steps yet to be taken at a very high level. There's an application process, mandatory public hearings, an audit of the applicant capabilities and candidates and a review of their capability to essentially steward the sport in a sustainable and healthy way. So we are in process for that. 

Operator:

We'd go next question from Jeré Longman with New York Times. Please go ahead. 

Jeré Longman:

Hi Sarah and Gene, as Gene alluded to, fencing has come over under tremendous pressure in the last three weeks given the forfeiture incident at the match in Maryland. For either one of you, I'm wondering does the board make any recommendation coming out of this meeting about the eligibility of transgender athletes in women's sports and given the immense pressure that you are also under the USOPC is also under, do you think that eventually you'll have to comply with the President Trump's executive order to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women's sports if they've gone through puberty as males? 

Sarah Hirshland:

I'll comment predominantly important to recognize that the USOPC does not define eligibility criteria for events that are not our jurisdiction. So typically speaking at an international level, the international federations will define eligibility criteria for the events in which they own jurisdiction, world Cups, world Championships, et cetera, and the national governing bodies domestically would define eligibility criteria for their events. In some cases those may be elite level events, national championships and things. In other cases those may be lower level grassroots youth sport competitions and things of that nature. So we do not have, nor will we have an eligibility policy, it wouldn't be appropriate, it's not our role to take on that position.