Transcripts For CSPAN Advocates 20240703

Distinguished leaders in the field of athletes rights and representation who can speak to a number of current challenges facing athletes across the movement. As we do, i want to take a moment to remind our witnesses and to all those who are here with us and listening on the live stream, that this commission is not just focused on olympic sports, but paralympic sports as well and i hope we will all be mindful of that. Id like to introduce our witnesses. First we have donald. Until last year he served as executive director of the National Hockey League Players association and he was previously the executive director of the Players Association for major league baseball. He has spent nearly half a century as an advocate for athletes and in doing so, not only help make our favorite pastimes more equitable and fair, but stronger and more commercially successful as well. We are also joined by a former prosecutor, champion athlete, pastor of the u. S. Opc, a longtime advocate for athletes Due Process Rights under the law. He also testified before the 197670 seven President Commission on olympic sports, making him truly a living link between that independent Governmental Commission in our own. I just want to remind you to hit your button. Thats better. Thank you. Its been a long time since ive been in this hearing room as a witness. I cant tell you that ive missed it. I will say that in one sense its unfortunate that im here again because that means this commission is necessary. But it is necessary. So what im going to do, if you will permit me, summarize my tin statement, which i asked to be included. I have a reputation of not being warm and fuzzy, so i dont intend to do that. I will adhere as closely to the five minutes as i can. First, my opinions represent the accumulated views of 50 years of experience doing this. In october of 1975i first started representing major players. Second, this law that has established this commission was established in the stark light of abuse. All over the newspapers damaging the brand, the athletes, the coaches and everyone. But this effort is one of a long series of efforts. Previous approaches tried to figure out some way to have others take care of the athletes better. I think we are finally at the stage where we simply need to take to heart the words of the law and we have to empower the athletes. We have to make certain that they have the resources necessary, if you will, to take care of themselves. Doing so means fundamental change. As i said, ive been doing this a long time. 1975 until 2010 with the major league association. 25 years plus as its executive director and 12 representing hockey players position from which i just retired. In both organizations, in addition to the ordinary collectivebargaining responsibilities, i represented those players in all discussions and negotiations related to matters, including participations in the games, and the International Federation while championships, as well as the world baseball classic in the world cup of hockey, which are joint International Championships put on by the players and the owners in the two leagues. But with the partition participation of the International Federations by contract. Within this movement i was a Public Sector director from 1996 to 2003, heavily involved in a wide variety of issues. The executive Committee Level and with the aac. I was a member of the Oversight Commission reviewing salt lake at the Court Position in 1999, and i left the board in 2003 when john mccain, who was then chairman of the set of the chairman commerce committee, asked if i would share what came to be called the independent commission on usoc reform, which they had established. Its a long way around saying ive seen this from every angle possible. What did this experience tell me . It tells me principally that there are two ways to go at this. We can say, heres a problem, how do we fix it, heres another one. I suggest thats an endless task and the problems of tomorrow are not going to be consistent with the ones of today. You need to create a different governmental framework that works and then interested people operating that framework to solve the problems and hold them accountable if they dont. The independent commission reported in 2003 essentially said lets get rid of this 120 plus person board and have independent directors and in the political infighting and we hoped that that would make a big difference. Our report was not adopted, usoc did make changes in this regard, but to ask the question did it work, we only have to look around the room because if it had, we wouldnt be here. I start as my training teaches me, with a summary of what the entity is, what in the world are the Olympic Games, which are shrouded in mythology. I hope this is not overly blunt. The olympics today are commercial entertainment enterprise. They are show consisting of athletic competitions of individuals and teams representing nations. Fans everywhere else we call them customers, purchase expensive tickets to watch the show, broadcast entities pay large sums of money to broadcasted. Businesses pay the broadcasters to advertise on the broadcasts and on the boards around the gates. Sponsors pay a lot of money to associate themselves with the game. Merchandise and souvenir sold all over everywhere. In other words, lots of money is changing hand in big dollar gardenvariety commercial activities and a very long list of people and businesses are getting paid and making profits. And the olympics have no business risking as that term is ordinarily understood. There is no competition in the product doesnt look like its going out of style. But there is an exception. The exception is the athletes. Consider that people who watch the games or want to be associated with them, advertisers, do so because they want to watch the athletes or because they want to be associated with the athletes. The athletes are the stars. They bring the fans, they bring the advertisers and the sponsors. Consider what would audi for rings be worse worth if they did not have cars. With all due respect, i dont the Olympic Rings would be worth very much if they didnt have the athletes. Consider one other example, which i use educating players about what their role is in both sports. If tomorrow we changed every person who has every job in the u. S. Olympic movement and threw them out and put on the games, the fans would not notice the difference. Change the athletes, dont have the best in the world, everything changes. In my view, its time we empower the athletes, as i said, to take care themselves. I offer several ideas, these are not specific recommendations for legislation or for amendments to the constitution of bylaws. They are concepts. If this Commission Decides the fundamental reform is needed, here are ideas you could consider. Recognize that the board is not in any normal sense, responsible to anyone there are no shareholders, there are no bondholders, there are no owners. They say they are accountable to the u. S. And the congress, thats great. That only matters when the scandals have been running around the newspapers for two years. Given the short careers of the athletes, by the time that happens, the damages done. The Board Members are accountable only to themselves and i dont even have any idea how their performance is measured or by whom. The first question then is, who is the constituency to which the board owes allegiance. I suggest its the athletes because i cant think of another one. Second, the athletes voice on the board needs to be enhanced or empowered. The way its been structured throughout my tenure, the athletes can always be outvoted on every issue. Among the things that could be considered would be to increase the vote of the athletes to 50 . Second, i would eliminate in part for the athlete representatives, the requirement that an athlete representative have been an athlete within a defined amount of time. If other people of the named individual to the board could as george w. Bush or barack obama be a board member, you have trust the athletes to make the choice. And i would also give them the right to remove a board member they name if they believe they are not acting in their interests. An alternative to this would simply to be the athletes veto power over certain key decisions. Ceo, other officers, budgets, things like that. I think the athletes ought to have the right to audit any Olympic Organization anytime they want to make sure its working right. Last in this regard, for closing thought, i think athletes would be well served in the movement would be well served by creating an organization of athletes with sufficient funding, which is entirely controlled by the athletes, run by professional staff of their choosing, and solely dedicated to their benefit and welfare. If an athlete has an issue or the parent of one, they need someplace ago where they know people are on their side and their side only. Last, and then just a couple of stray thoughts regarding earlier testimony. Athletes are not usually considered employees in the ordinary sense. They dont get w2s, as far as i know. Most of the time they dont. But the notion that some high they dont somehow they dont work for the olympic movement, you cant say that with a straight face. And, if you are going to be an olympic athlete, your potential opportunity cost is enormous. Because if you are training for years, what are you not doing. What other employment or Educational Opportunities are you not availing yourself of . I dont thick i have to spell that out. In a few careers, a lucrative professional contract is always possible, that is not true for the overwhelming number of athletes. I therefore would suggest that dog be given to establishing some sort of mechanism to consider what kind of arrangements or agreements are appropriate to make sure the athletes are protected, that they are treated fairly, and that the conditions under which they train and compete are appropriate and that their contribution to the uso pc in their own and gb is recognized. For various legal reasons im not here suggesting a traditional union. Happy to talk about that if anybody is interested, but i believe people can work this out. Many people, my guess is a lot of volunteer and staff, are going to respond by saying these things are necessary, we know its best for the athletes, we could take care of them. Everything that should be done has been done. Perhaps. I dont think history suggests that thats right. Accordingly, my recommendation comes down to this. You have to empower the athletes and then you have to trust them. They are not children. Some of them are young, many of them are not. Theres a lot of 18yearold hockey players, union works just fine. Ive had the privilege of representing elite athletes and working for them for five decades. They can handle it. Three other quick thoughts. First, decisions at the uso pc level in the ngb level are made just like everywhere else. They are made reflecting whatever the power dynamic of the board is. Thats what needs to be looked at. Secondly, i watched on tv some of the earlier testimony and there was a comment that we are doing what we can to make sure the athletes voice is always heard. I started laughing when i heard that. I dont mean that in a caustic or demeaning way to the person who said it, thats what every management says when it doesnt want a union in athletes ports. I know its best, you have to trust me, my doors always open, come talk to me. Why professional staff or an organization. You learn a lot of things training to be an athlete, how to run an organization like that and represent athletes is not one of them. Ask them how those lessons are learned. They dont come overnight and they are not immediately obvious. Last, i hope that there is a surplus at the l. A. Games. I dont i hope we dont end up with any White Elephants thats been there since 1976. But i suggest that theres a reason there was a surplus in 1984. The reason is the athletes didnt get paid anything. Any company can make more money if its not paying its key staff. No issue about that. And i would then close by saying , where does the money come from . It goes into the olympic movement. This isnt europe where its an appropriation for the federal government. It comes from people who want to watch or be associated with the athletes. And if you take nothing else out of my testimony, i would ask you to remember that. Thank you and i apologize if i went on too long. Mr. Williams, at this time i invite you to share your testimony with the commission. Thank you madame sherman. Just for the record, i have been an olympian, thats why i have the assistance of someone to translate if i cant hear some of your questions. Ive chaired the usa ac for four years. I was the chairman of the legislation committee, the Olympic Committee for eight years and sat on the board for eight years. I have represented hundreds of athletes in section nine, right to compete cases, article 10, section 10, ngb noncompliance cases. Many on a pro bono cases. In february 2018, when former ceo of the u. S. Association stated to the world that the Winter Olympics in south korea that the committee did not have the authority under the sports act to oversee and regulate its own member ngbs including gymnastics, i found it, and i now cochair with nancy, the committee to restore integrity to the usoc. Over 350 olympic athletes, other athletes, parents and supporters have joined Team Integrity and our mission to inform the usoc and have a truly put Athletes First. As a sidenote to my prepared comments, if you go on the internet and type in usoc and Team Integrity, your laptop will light up like the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center to show you the impact we have had through the press. Eying knowledge that the committee has made significant improvements to addressed the shortcomings laid bare by the investigation of the criminal acts in the abuse of girls and young women, particularly in usa gymnastics, but not limited them to swimming, tae kwon do, judo, other sports. But theres much more to be done. I previously submitted a 55 page start for that. 55 page written submission to this commission, which at some point, maybe some of you have already read it, i will briefly highlight five points, one, these are recommendations. An independent private sector Inspector General must be appointed to monitor and oversee the operations of the usoc. I called at the usoc, excuse me, uso pc. Until such time or as he or she determines that the uso pc can responsibly carry on without close oversight by the ips ig. We could discuss later during questions to answer why think thats necessary. Number two, the sports act should be amended to require that the uso pc must itself provide the same due process to athletes that the sports act requires ngbs to provide athletes. You would probably be amazed to know that the usoc uso pc, under the act, is itself not required to provide due process to athletes or to affiliated nonemployed members. Can you believe that . Thats the due process loophole that needs to be changed. Number three. Athletes should directly elect their own athlete representatives to the uso pc board and they should be the voice of the athletes. Thank you for emphasizing that. Gone should be the days when the usoc trots out in allstar alumni olympic athlete who has not been represented to speak on their behalf and says that, blackman did a phenomenal job, just as it famously happened on february 8 phenomenal job. Just as it famously happened on february 8, 19 83. Number four. Four a, im a lawyer, sorry. The usopc should vigorously educate its member ngbs and expand its efforts to ensure athletes are provided due process in both disciplinary and eligibility disputes. Four b, usoc must put in place a more rigorous review of athletes and Team Selected procedures to ensure that they are clear, unambiguous and free from nonobjective discretionary requirements. Number four c, the usopc must closely monitor and enforce the sports act membership requirement for ngbs as well as strengthen and follow its own policies to ensure compliance and athletes wellbeing. That sort of a given. But its required. Please three efforts, for a b and c, if followed, will largely eliminate the need for section nine and section 10 complaints. The commission spent an enormous amount of time, and they did a terrific job, they spent a lot of time on how can we improve this section nine processes . How can we improve this section 10 processes . Thats not my suggestion. My recommendation is that they do a better job so that section nine cases in section 10 cases dont have to be brought. By the way, section 10 cases, this is the noncompliance cases, although it looks plain and simple in the bylaws, they are terribly expensive for athletes to bring. I have prosecuted six section 10 cases, each one of them in terms of attorney time, costs over 200 thousand dollars. No athlete could possibly spend that. In my law firm will no longer do it. They said, youve reached the end of your pro bono work. Section 10 cases just cannot be prosecuted by athletes on a paying basis. If there has to be a section 10 days, there has to be another way to bring it. Finally, in my number four, in connection with the review of ngb compliance, the limbic committee must go beyond simply checking the box to see if the ngb has the sports act requirement in the bylaws. No. The usoc has to go beyond that and actually look and see whether or not the ngb is actually following the required bylaw that it puts in bylaws. Thats where the rubber meets the road. In conclusion on my point, long one, a measure of whether or not the olympic is successful or not is whether or not section nine and 10 cases are being brought. If there are section nine, failure to provide due process cases, or section nine failure to selection of criteria or cases or section 10, failure of mgp compliance, if a number of them are brought, that is the signal that the usoc has failed. Zero section nine in section 10 cases should be the objective of the Olympic Committee. Heres my number five, finally. A new staff position, an attorney advocate should be created and funded by the usoc. This person will work independently of the usoc offcampus to prosecute section 10 cases if necessary. Hopefully there will not be any on the athlete advocate paid by the staff, shall be able to give legal advice to athletes. Something that the on bridesman is not permitted to do something that the arms blood men is able to do something theyre able to do. They must be a graduate of a highly ranked law school. Have an enviable academic record and be paid at least as much as the current one is being paid. In my final point on number five is, the existing requirement of exhaustion of administrative remedies within the [applause] ngb, which is been used to stymie and block section 10 complaints must be dropped. Ok, finally, some bullet points, quickly. The usoc needs to be more transparent. I will not recount ways, except to refer the commission to exhibit e of my 55 page exhibit. This omission written earlier. The mantra of the usoc leadership and staff should be Athletes First, and as we say, the military Selfless Service. Every proposed project and decision should be made through the lens of how this will benefit the athletes. See, the usoc leadership both staff and the board must engage in a program of self education. Just ask Mike Carrigan about that. Many good things and Lessons Learned in the past have been lost and forgotten on account of the lack of any institutional memory within the usoc. D, getting close to the finish line, although its very sad to even have to think about it, the uso pc board usopc must take steps to guard against the possibility of being kept in the dark or even misled by paid staff. Sorry to bring it up, but thats a possibility and may have happened in the past. Read my 55 page submission. Direct reports should be made to the board by the chief Compliance Officer as well as the ombudsman. Detailing, athlete abuse, pending and threatened section nine and section 10 cases. A board of directors can only carry out its responsibilities if its an informed board. The usocs whistleblower policy has been expanded and enhanced with whistleblowers having direct access to the chief Compliance Officer. Finally, the Olympic Committee has to be a bit more humble and more accepting of criticism, and more tolerant of unsolicited and even unwanted advice. The usopc must step back and engage in critical selfevaluation. And history shows, with a few exceptions, it is incapable of doing. This is a tall order. But it can only be accomplished if the usopc is populated by people with high character who possess a moral compass that points true north and who are driven in their worth by a sense of commitment of Selfless Service to the athletes that the usoc is supposed to support. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, mr. Williams. I just want to take a moment and clarify for the record, i believe you said it in your testimony, but all of your recommendations and all the suggestions you make applied to the Paralympic Movement and to our paralympians. In my correct about that . Thank you so much. Yes, thank you. I want to turn back to you for a moment. Over the years many people have suggested unionists unionization as the solution and you said thats not what you are recommending. Could you elaborate briefly on why this is not a viable across board solution . I dont want to suggested is in viable, i want to suggest we are not in a position to make that judgment. Unions normally require employees. A whole relationship would have to be redefined or statutory authorization for some different kind of arrangement would have to be made. Second, the way the current law normally works, you dont say, ok, we will have a union, you will have a union and an appropriate bargaining unit. I dont know whether the agreement should be all athletes with the uso pc, National Teams with their local governing body, individuals with respect to the various federations, or what it would be. That takes a lot of time and work and effort to work out. Third, the way the labor law works in the u. S. , with two exceptions, Public Employee unions, and the Railway Labor act. Which governs railways and airways. The theory is, you are supposed to bargain in good faith, no one knows what that means until after the fact. Either side, management or labor can resort to consorted action. And it threatens a lockout or to threaten to strike or to engage in one or the other. Normally you have ongoing businesses, which, the employees might be able to work elsewhere in the customers might be able to buy other products. Theres competitors. You dont have that if very much in the professional sports leagues, but in the olympic movement, if you look at the Olympic Games, you have two games every four years. One opportunity every four years for each athlete. Unless somebody is winter and summer. Unless that needs to become the focal point of the dispute, what will we do for this game, you ought to look to find some other mechanism. I dont know if there is one, but my suggestion was that that needs to be examined. There are all kinds of models for arbitration, various things in mediation that might make spec might make sense. Mr. Williams, since the departure of Scott Blackman, have you seen improvement in the oversight of governing bodies as well as transparency and competing with athletes based on your own experiences . In terms thank you mr. Chairman, in terms of oversight of ngbs, there has been significant improvement. That was with the hiring of the chief Compliance Officer, former assistant u. S. Attorney who has done a very credible job, as far as i can see, in my law firm is very happy to put us out of business, you really cant have athletes and attorneys acting as private attorney generals. That has to be done inhouse in the chief Compliance Officer, as far as i can see, im not an insider, is doing a credible job on that. But, there are still several shortcomings that i have seen. The first one, and don has mentioned it, is lack of accountability. There is no accountability by the uso by the usopc board to anybody, certainly not to athletes. I want to read to you a sentence that i received you yesterday from an olympic athlete who is very much involved in the past as Chairperson Advisory Council who has sent me some very nice bullets. Here is what she said. It resonates very true. The usoc has no meaningful accountability. Athletes have been left to use the media to bring intermittent attention to problems because there is no other meaningful way for them to make known their position than to have the usoc respond. Short track issue, which i represented a number of short track cases, athletes, was only brought to a head when phil hirsch of the Chicago Tribune wrote a scathing set of articles in the Chicago Tribune. We also know about the indy star, with gymnastics, when attorney Jonathan Little got his hands on a pile of secret files and delivered them to the indystar and publish them and then, boom, they started to take reaction. That is not the way accountability should work. Exhibit c to the question of have things improved and why theres a need for independent inspector is that the usoc, two years after the blowup in south korea in february 20 18, 2 years later it voted to give him 2. 4 million because of what one athlete said at the press conference in korea said, he had done such a phenomenal job. And the disclosure of the 2. 4 million took place on july 3, 2019, months after they came out with this report. How do you think that set well with the athletes . Was that putting Athletes First . Im going to take a minute to add to this. Remember cvs cbs, he had a contract with a severance agreement just like Scott Blackman did, which was the reason the board had to meet the agreement. They had an agreement, and they did a scathing report and recommended to the board, hey, you cant give him a severance agreement. And guess what, they didnt. He sued and lost, giving Scott Blackman 2. 4 million after the events that were disclosed in south korea were really outrageous. It was a lack of accountability. Sorry for the long answer. If i could take one minute and amend my prior, prior comment. When i suggest an organization representing the athletes, in a Perfect World it would have sufficient funding so that it would represent the athletes with respect to all matters pertaining to their participation in the olympic movement. The point would be to eliminate from them or their parents to go out and get funding, which the overwhelming majority cant as mr. Williams has testified. Its not cheap to do that. Thats what the unions do. I will yield back to cochair. Thank you for that clarifying question, and i again want to clarify, when youre talking about an independent entity, you intend for the entity to cover olympic men athletes and paralympic men. Am i correct . All athletes in the npc. You testified about athlete representation on the usopc and i want to follow up on that. Can you explain why, i think you said they can always be outvoted, are there other reasons why athlete representation isnt sufficient to provide the types of meaningful rights and protections that you are talking about today . It comes down to this, my collectivebargaining experience. But it comes down to is respect to those areas that are mandatory subjects of bargaining. Which is most things. Management is obligated to reach an agreement with its workers. Unless you are going to go to that model, you need the kind of representation on the decisionmaking body or bodies which will require that result. Thats how i get there. The second thing that i mentioned was qualifications for election. What i mean by that is this. It may be that the athletes would choose to have someone whos been around the movement for 35 or 40 years as the benefit of that experience has contacts all over the country and with the business entities that the usopc usopc does business with, who may be able to represent them better than an athlete who ordinarily would not have had that opportunity. I dont know that that would be the case, all im saying is the athletes should have the ability to make that choice if they so choose. Im going to yield to the commissioner for the next question. Mr. Williams, i wondered if you had any comments about the center for safe sport. You stayed away from talking about it. Thank you for that question. How many hours do we have . I will give one short, unsafe sport. On safe sport. Im a due process guide. The amount of time it takes for safe sport to come to a resolution once a complaint is filed, the extreme amount of time constitutes a denial of due process to both the accuser and the responded. You cant have things sitting out there for a year or more. Or drop a stone down a well and never hear the splash. There has to be some reasonable time limit on safe sport to bring a matter to resolution. Again to repeat the length of time that constitutes the denial of due process to both parties. Thank you, i yield back to my cochair. Thank you, i have another question for you, you talked about empowering athletes and trusting athletes, and im wondering in your experience, and in the different context in which youve worked with elite athletes does granting additional power to athletes, trusting athletes to work things out, does that harmed the sport, the commercial enterprise that is sport, are there downsides to your approach . Im laughing because my very first major case is a lawyer was as one of the council to the baseball Players Association and the free agency in 1975 and 1976. Then commissioner of baseball basically was making speeches, i believe from the witness stand, was basically saying that if he allowed free agency, baseball would end. It when to be there anymore. I think he said it would go out of business. It would be down to five or six teams. Similar comments were made in the other sports. What we learned in the 1960s and 1970s, in the 1960s with basketball in the bidding war between joe namath between the jets and whatever the nfl team was, and we learned in basketball as they began to get through. In baseball in the 1970s and later, not only is it not inconsistent to success, in my view it gorgeous it. One thing it did was make celebrities out of the players in a way that they were not previously. It enhanced revenue. I know of no one who believes that some house some how professional sports franchises would sell into aliens of dollars in hockey, which is the fourth sport in north america. Revenues are higher in the other three. It would suggest that somehow they cant make it. Thank you for that. In the interest of time, i would like to move forward and invite our second panel of the session to be seated. I want to thank you both for your participation today. We sincerely appreciate you being here to share your insights with the commission. Test, test, test. Next panel focuses on equity and accessibility in olympic and paralympic sports. The threetime paralympian and a former wheelchair basketball competitor, and now the Community Access navigator for the university of michigan board and fitness program. He also serves as vice chair, and was one of our nations flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony for the most recent summer Paralympic Games in tokyo. Jeff mansfield is a olympic medalist in ice hockey and current president of the desk sports federation. The National Governing body for deaf sports in our country. We are joined by candace gable, who became the first woman to meddle in the summer and winter Paralympic Games. She serves as director of Committee Outreach and Education Program at the disability rights legal center. It is essential that all who want to participate can do so and access opportunities to reach for their limits in sports, especially americans with disabilities. Including those who are deaf and hard of hearing. I now yield five minutes each to the panel to help the Commission Better understand the landscape for pera and deaf sports and our countries and the challenges facing athletes who wish to dissipate. Mr. Aoki good afternoon. Im a threetime paralympic medalist. A fourtime World Championship medalist in the vice chair of the team championship. Im here to speak about my we can get thoughts about advancing in the u. S. Knew in in my career i have seen it be an active thought in the movement to growing into a meaningful partner. I think this change is best illustrated by the acronym i just use, usopc. The governing body of the Paralympic Movement was referred to as the Paralympic Committee. While seemingly small changes important for paralympic to not be front and center when we talk about the u. S. And can never become an afterthought again. This raises the important question of a growing in a meaningful and sustainable way. From my perspective there are three important avenues that must be addressed to take paralympics into a nationwide phenomenon. These are, greater these are greater participation, adapted sports, increased funding for developmental and elite para athletes and overall Global Change in the way disability is viewed on a societal level. So first, there is an urgent need to create more systematic participation in adapted sports across the entire country to illustrate this point at both the highest level. And then all the way down to grassroots, allow me to share a couple of quick examples. I got started in adapted sports purely by accident. I was leaving a Swimming Lesson when an employee of the rehabilitation center, i took my lessons at asked if i want to play wheelchair basketball without waiting for my mother to respond. I said yes and thus i set off on the path down that has led me to be in front of you all today. My story is unfortunately too common. However, Adaptive Sports is something people fall into through a random connection or seeing a fire post on the wall. A flyer posted on the wall. There is no systematic way to ensure people with disabilities have access to Adaptive Sports and fitness opportunities like exists for organized use sports for able children. It is high time for us to consider what can be done to ensure adaptive athletes receive the same access to opportunities to compete that are able bodied compatriots have to highlight this need at the highest level at the tokyo Paralympic Games held in 2021. The United States won 95 medals. We competed in another 147 events which will not result in medals saw elite athletes represent our country at the highest level. These numbers may sound impressive and we should be proud of every athlete who has put on the usa jersey. However, as is often the case, these numbers do not tell the entire story. I say this because despite these remarkable successes, the usa did not even contest 297 other medal opportunities in tokyo. Second, there is a need to see vastly more funding put into elite level paralympic sports here in the United States. The usopc, as we all know is one of the only governing bodies that receives no funding from the government or National Sports oversight bodies. This challenge is especially pronounced on the paralympic side as the movement remains behind the olympics in terms of awareness on a very broad level for the purposes of this commission. However, i strongly urge the committee to consider ways in which the growth and development of paralympic sport could be supported via unique funding mechanisms. One example exists in the United Kingdom where funding for paralympic sport at least partially comes from a government lottery tax. Another option could be taking the burden off of the us o pc to fund the center for state sport under the condition that at least 50 of said dollars be directed towards paralympic growth and development. I posit these ideas as ones that would only grow the overall pie of funding for the olympic and Paralympic Movement in the us. This is because as a paralympic athlete, im never attempting to take things away from or lessen the benefits or services my olympic counterparts receive. My only goal is to ensure we receive equitable treatment which has not come from less than what they receive. And third, we must continue to work to break down stereotypes about people with disabilities in our society so that all individuals with disabilities can live fulfilling lives. Sport is one chips mechanism for doing so and a powerful one at that. My two previous points are both in service of this greater goal by increasing access to sport and then supporting our elite athletes who have disabilities. We are changing the way in which disability is viewed in the world at large. I firmly believe in the power of sport to change lives or at the elite level or the recre on a recreational basis. Sports are an integral part of our, our culture and we all deserve to have access to compete and strive to be the best versions of ourselves. We may not all make it to the parent level, but we can all to the paralympic level, but we can all find a community that accepts us and celebrates our unique way of moving through the world. Thank you for the time and i look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you. Im candace cable and i thank you for this opportunity to share my experiences. With you. Im optimistic and hopeful that you hear today, it lights a fire of impeccable culture change. I was always an optimistic and hopeful, non disabled child living with environmental privilege in a White Supremacy ableist world that valued me as a non disabled child. I believed i had every access to every opportunity. My spinal cord injury in 1975 and the use of a wheelchair for mobility prompted systemic ableism, taking away my value, my humanity, my access privilege, my optimism and my hopefulness. I was fortunate that a community of disabled people found me and introduced me to sports, sport, brought humanity back for me. This is the power of sport. When everyone is included, i offer this story on ableism because im a historian. My first of nine Paralympic Games was in 1980 should have been in moscow. But the soviets said they didnt have any disabled people. So they wouldnt hold the Paralympic Games. Disabled people have historically been institutionalized or eliminated up until the mid 20th century. Thats why you didnt see disabled people anywhere or any infrastructures ever built to include us, including the houses of the people, they exempt themselves from the ad a before it was passed so that they didnt have to make these buildings access. The framework of eugenics continues today in all of our legislation and were still not thought of as human beings and all because of an ism that is rarely ever talked about ableism. The value of some bodies over other bodies is deeply embedded in the us olympic and Paralympic Committee, the infrastructure, the stakeholders including the international Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic committee. Ableism dehumanizes and its just one of the many forms of ism that causes great harm. We do not have, we do not have to be disabled to experience ableism. We know that racism is the foundation of ableism. Olympians have historically been valued as the pinnacle of the Human Experience within our sport culture. This has created segregation, silencing, backstabbing fear, micro macro aggressions for all paralympians ali believes harms everyone including olympians. It assures that paralympians will never be valued as we strive for equity. Its been a part of the us work culture. Ive been a part of the us sport culture for 40 plus years as an athlete, a 2010 Athlete Services coordinator on the athlete Advisory Council on the us olympic and Paralympic Association on the olympic and paralympic relief fund. And each name change came at the and each name change came to include paralympic in the us olympic and Paralympic Committee didnt come from the top. It came from paralympians emotional labor, pushing for visible value, recognition of belonging the us olympic and Paralympic Committee created a council on racial and social justice with four areas of focus. I worked on the institutional awareness and cultural change committee. We took our work really seriously very seriously. In fact, we all were changed by it. We got transparent and we broke down a lot of our own discriminatory things that we were doing. After a year, we delivered our recommendations to remove systemic barriers to racial and social justice empower athletes in driving societal change and anchor a commitment to access diversity, equity, inclusion and justice of organizational policies, practices and procedures within the us olympic and Paralympic Movement. Its the us olympic and Paralympic Movement. The us o pc leadership responded with a dismal tone. It was too much to do not receiving detailed feedback. We were shocked and frustrated which led to a delay of completing the recommendations. Part four of the recommendations focused entirely on the equity of the Paralympic Movement. The recommendations state that creating and implementing a plan for moving oversight of paralympic sports currently managed by the us olympic and Paralympic Committee under the us Paralympic Division of the us. Olympic and Paralympic Committee be moved out and under disabled sports organizations and ng bs, this piece is critical to dismantling the current oppressions. Currently, us paralympics is listed as a national Paralympic Committee and its a division of the us o pc. The recommendations also support understanding disability education to dismantle bias to disability which chuck spoke about because disability and paralympians come as one. Systemic oppression, conscious or unconscious must be identified removed and education is needed to do better. I worked on the l a 28 bid it was a constant struggle to promote equitable and authentic paralympic narratives. During that time, i really hope that l a 28 organizers take advantage of the positive paradigm shift that the organizers of the 2012 london Paralympic Games created. They developed a strategy of education based on exposure play experience and knowledge building to dismantle systemic ableism in the sport culture. This several year strategy began dismantling ableism and restored value to disabled human beings and elevated paralympians to an equitable space with olympians. I think this next story sums up ableism and bias that goes unchecked in our sport culture. This book and im holding up a book of olympic trivia was written by a us olympic and paralympic board member and it says olympic trivia but inside is paralympic trivia. Also, when i asked the author, why the title didnt include paralympic . He said the editor didnt like it. The olympic athlete, the us, olympic and paralympic board member doesnt see the value of telling the editor. Paralympic must be on the title because its a book that includes paralympic trivia too. We can do better, we can create an impeccable inclusion and equity for all athletes. And i really thank you for your time. Thank you, miss cable, mr mansfield. Thank you commissioners. My name is Jeffrey Mansfield as a three time deaf olympian. I am honored to be here today as president of the usa Deaf Sports Federation usa ds is the National Governing body of deaf sports in the United States. A member of the International Committee of sports for the deaf and the us ocs Affiliate Organizations Council in short usa dsf is to the deaf olympics. What the us is to the olympics and paralympics. The summer and winter, deaf olympics are quadrennial events administered by the icd. In 1955 the ioc recognized the icsd as an International Federation with olympic standing and in 2001 ioc granted icd the right to use the term deaf olympics. However, the ted stevens, olympic and amateur sports act makes no provision for the deaf olympics. This omission is at the crux of three issues. I highlight today as they relate to the movement and to the rights of deaf and hard of hearing americans. The first relates to access and compliance. While it is true that deaf and hard of hearing athletes can and do take part in the olympics and paralympics. The us opc only tracks categories of disability that are covered under the paralympics and deafness is excluded because of this technicality. Becca myers, a deaf blind, paralympian was denied reasonable accommodations and was pressed into making the decision to withdraw from the 2021 tokyo Paralympic Games. In addition, compliance with the americans with disabilities act is not an explicit criteria for certification. While some ngbs have implemented policies and initiatives to better serve deaf and hard of hearing athletes, us, soccer, for example, fully funds the us deaf National Teams under the extended National Team program. Others have not. Consequently, we have a sports landscape where ada compliance is piecemeal, inconsistent and neglected in reality, discrimination, abuse and mistreatment take place at every level from grassroots youth sports to High Performance sports. Second, the empowering olympic and amateur athletes act is important legislation that champions athlete safety. However, we also caution that the continued omission of the deaf olympics from the sports act mandate perpetuates a sports infrastructure that fails to protect the Health Safety and well being of deaf and hard of hearing americans because deaf and hard of hearing athletes are often isolated in sports at every level. Anxiety around self advocacy for fear of stigmatization and repercussions on playing time and opportunities to advance have prevented athletes from recognizing and reporting wrongdoing. What results is an environment where deaf and hard of hearing athletes are more vulnerable to physical, psychological and sexual abuse and mistreatment. These factors make the exclusion of the deaf olympics and deaf olympians a Public Health issue. Third is the issue of unequal opportunity. Neither the amateur sports act nor the Us Copyright Office recognizes the term deaf olympics as the icsds intellectual property, even though the ioc has granted i cs d the right to use this term. This creates a double injustice in which the us oc provides zero funding to the us deaflympics program and we are precluded from pursuing a wide swath of sponsor funding. Meanwhile, deaf olympic medalists are also excluded from operation gold awards. A growing number of countries including russia now fund their National Deaf Olympic Programs. With results that translate on the medal table. We believe that the lack of investment in the United States deaf Olympic Program reflects poorly on the olympic and paralympic brand in the United States, undermines National Pride and exacerbates inequality in front of me are over 2000 pages of documents that we have submitted to the commission. These documents chart a pattern. Several decades long of deflection, dismissiveness and denial that can be described as discrimination on the basis of a specific disability, deafness. Today, we are calling on the usopc and congress to end this pattern and to uphold compliance and athlete safety and equality for deaf and hard of hearing americans. I urge for the insertion of the deaf olympics into the ted stevens olympic and amateur sports act and to usopcs mandate and for the investment in deaf olympians as deaf olympians. We are proud to wear the letters usa across our chests and today we are calling on our country to have our backs. Nothing about us without us. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your testimony. Ill yield first to commissioner cisneros preva. My question is to mr aoki. Thank you for your testimony. Could you talk a little more about the challenges that athletes with disabilities still face within the movement, both at the High Performance paralympic level, as well as the youth and grass roots participation level. Certainly, thank you for the question. I think theres certainly many areas to explore in this, in this issue. But the one i would, i would just start with is the, is the challenge of equipment. I think the reality is that for any adapted athlete, whether youre a wheelchair user or visually impaired or anything of that nature, youre gonna require specialized equipment which you know, you cant buy it at a regular store. You have to order special made. Theres only several manufacturers in the world that make them. And theyre often, you know, the costs and the thousands of dollars uh just for equipment and particularly for youth athletes, theyre growing, their bodies are changing and they cant, they have to constantly do. And so in addition to the burden of having added expenses from having a disability, you then stack on top of it. Even being able to participate in recreational activities, adds even further burden of, of money. So i think the issue of equipment access is, is a, is a really challenging one that i would, i would focus on, but there are, there are certainly many others. Thank you. Yield to commissioner hogg said, thank you. Id like to ask a question to mr mansfield. Yeah. Mr. Mansfield, can you share a little bit more about the reasons why deaf olympics is distinct from the paralympics such as what adaptations need to be made for competition . Thank you for that question. So there are several reasons. First of which goes back to efforts in the 1980s and 1990s around the International Organizing Committee and the deaf Sports Agency to create the paralympics. There was an overwhelming desire for the deaf Olympic Community to maintain the number of events that they held and the deaf olympics, i should add has been around since 1924. And by joining the Paralympic Community that would have resulted in the subtraction of seats that were available to paralympic athletes and deaf athletes both. So the preference was to maintain the number of seats separately so that they could operate concurrently, modifications that happened or that happened in the deaf olympics include lighted notification systems, access through sign languages, speech, accessibility through captioning. So in service of provision, complete or optimal complete or optimal space for deaf and a deaf athletes at every level from youth sports to elite performance sports. And i as i have learned through my own experience as an elite athlete. When you reach the higher performance levels, the margins that separate an elite athlete from an olympian or paralympian are razor thin. And those margins really also can make the difference between a deaf athletes ability to access an environment that provides Optimal Services for a deaf and hard of hearing persons or athletes, communication needs or not. So this again goes back to the fact that to get to the higher performance levels, we have to start at the Grassroots Level and we have to encourage cultural change at every level, including attitudes towards different disabilities, including deafness and people who are deaf, deafness. And the deaf olympics have not had the same status as the olympics or the paralympics in this country. And you see this pattern that deaf and hard of hearing athletes, their progression is interrupted and this has an impact on Long Term Health outcomes of deaf people. The amount of opportunities that are available for deaf and hard of hearing. Americans are also limited. I just wanna follow up. Well, so you just said that uh the progression was uh was limited for deaf athletes. What, what did you mean by that . So i can use my own experience as an example. I was cut from my first hockey team at nine years old because the coach did not believe that a deaf player, deaf person could play hockey. And at every level beyond that, i continued to encounter similar obstacles which really arose from someones doubt or preconceived notions about deaf people. And that is widespread around our entire country in the arenas of sports in nebraska. There was a High School Wrestler who was denied access to the state championship because he did not recognize the whistle being blown by the referee because there was no visual alert device available. And as a result of that, he was denied the opportunity to have an equally competitive environment. But you see this happen at every sport that deaf and hard of hearing players, theyll continue to play beyond a whistle blow and then they have repercussions that then cause emotional trauma. And we see this happen also between coaches and athletes where a coach doesnt recognize what is needed to provide appropriate access to deaf athletes. And then this results in an environment where an athlete is being looked down upon by their coach and theyre not then getting the same amount of playing time or theyre being denied opportunity for additional instructional opportunities. So again, this happens at every level, the youth level grassroots, but it also does happen at the elite ncaa levels as well and beyond. Thank you very much. Commissioner schmitz has our next question, show less text mr manfield, in your testimony just now you spoke about uh some additional safety or maybe practical challenges facing deaf and hard of hearing athletes yourself included just to clarify. Are these athletes currently protected by safe sport . Yes, but again, as has already been mentioned today, while we report things to safe sport, its like sending a complaint into a vacuum. And in addition to that at younger levels or youth sport levels, deaf and hard of hearing athletes and their families included are already at a, at a disadvantage. So to then report, it creates a fear of repercussions or retribution on playing time. So for those reasons, often deaf and hard of hearing athletes will decide to not report abuses or misconduct. And in fact, we have research and statistics that show that deaf and hard of hearing americans are 25 more likely to experience Mental Health issues than those who can hear normally. Thank you. Ill yield now to commissioner cohen who has questions for two of the uh our witnesses. Thank you. I have two questions. My first is for miss cable and i apologize for diverting the conversation to the bid process, but as a former bid leader, im curious of your involvement with the l. A. 28 bid and kind of um you know how you saw the United States approach to the bid process and whether you, you the, whether you saw gaps or ways that we could improve the bidding process in the United States because you were the vice chair of the l. A. 28 bid. Thank you for that question about l. A. 28 and what the bid process was like. So l. A. Got the bid late because boston was selected by the usopc to be the city that would go after trying to host the games for 2024 not 2028. And then the citizens of boston decided that they didnt want that. And so they were halfway through the process and l. A. Put its hand up. And so they were behind the behind on everything. And i moved to los angeles in 2015 and met some people that had some things to do with the bid. And i was invited to the event where they were going to unveil the logo. And as i was meeting people and wandering around and, and i noticed that up on stage, there was an olympian, an adult olympian and then there was a child with a disability and i thought it was just really interesting. Theres no adult paralympian here and they unveiled the logo and it was this beautiful angel looking thing that had lots of beautiful colors and it was only the Olympic Rings. And i thought, well, whats going on here . Like, why isnt it the paralympic . You get those here because theres a contract that says, i know this, theres a contract that says if you bid on hosting the games, you bid the olympics and the paralympics, its a must. Now, its not like what i said about the soviets, you dont get to choose anymore. And i asked someone who was a part of the bid and they said, oh, well, the international Olympic Committee determines how the bid process goes that they determine the logo of, you know, the fonts and that you only use the rings. You dont use the paralympic symbols. I thought that was so odd, but i posted it on facebook and, and people were very upset about not having the paralympic symbols. And i said, well, dont get mad at the bid people because its not their fault. And actually us oc its not their fault either. Its actually the iocs fault. Thats their deal. And i got a call the next day asking me to be vice chair and they said, well, we really like the way you handled that. And i thought, well, that was easy. And i started to show up at the, at the office and see how things are run. And i saw that there was no paralympic representation at all. There was no person with a disability that had any visibility in it. And i kept going to their events and things and, and i, i went to the leadership, the ceo and the chair and i said you should hire me because i really can help you build up the narrative about paralympics even though were not displaying it. And i really think that that was very helpful for us to have someone in the office with a disability, visible disability as a part of it. But it wasnt enough in the office to continue to remind people that it was the olympic and Paralympic Games. It was very olympic centric. And the reason it is from my perspective is because its run by the ioc and we have to follow if you host. If youre, youre planning on trying to win being a host of the games, the ioc runs everything. So the ioc dictates all the things that are deliverables and the, the things that need to happen. And so having any kind of paralympic narrative really doesnt matter to them. And theyre the ones who make the decision the i pc did come and visit, but their visit wasnt as elaborate at the io cs visit. I think thats a gap. I think thats a problem. I also think that its a problem that the both symbols arent a part of the bid process. I think thats a huge gap. We have, we have such an opportunity in so many spaces in sport to educate about equity, inclusion, access for everyone because really disability is a human life experience. We are all going to have. Should we live long enough . Youre going to have an age related disability bottom line and youre gonna want these things in place and sports is an amazing venue to create these things. I think another gap is one that i mentioned in my testimony is that london 2012 created a visceral paradigm shift. You actually could taste it in the air. There were more people that attended the Paralympic Games than the Olympic Games in london. That, that was almost unheard of. They had a sponsor that was paralympic only sponsor sainsburys which is a Grocery Store in the uk and they said we only want to sponsor the Paralympic Games and they put together a program that was about teaching the entire country about paralympics disability. And it went to schools and then the schools that won the competition that they had won a day with David Beckham because he was sponsored by sainsburys. So, and then they had television shows, they had late night talk shows, they had a late night talk show called the last leg that was hosted by a single leg amputee. And it was hilarious. It still continues to today. Its so popular. So i think there are gaps that are a part of the bid process are also a part of our process in general is that we dont have education around incorporating paralympics and disabilities into the narrative and people are too afraid about disability. And i mean, i would speak up in the executive meetings about something and it would be full on silence, crickets. I was like, oh my gosh, do we Say Something wrong out of the place . What should we do . And i talk to friends who also work in corporate that have visible disabilities and they say its the exact same thing. People just get so shy and uncomfortable and embarrassed that they might do something wrong and we need good education. And so i would, i would say in your process with salt lake, you, you should be pounding the message about the paralympics because Everybody Knows about the olympics. Like, i mean, really, if you just look at it, if you say, oh, the games are coming, theyre like, oh, the olympics and they dont know about the paralympics. And its a huge marketing mistake from my perspective to eliminate that because theres a lot of money out there that could come from a lot of new places. Ill, ill stop there. Thank you very much. I can talk about it. No, im glad i diverted for a little bit. My, my second question is for mr aoki, the Current Administration of para sports within the movement falls to a mix of ngbs internally managed sports and paralympic sports organizations like the Lakeshore Foundation in your view, which structures best serve the needs of our nations paralympians. That is a fantastic question. I think the reality is that ill answer your question this way and that i dont believe internally managed is the best option. I think that a the most in the way in which the movement sits today. Im of the opinion that we the us o bc shouldnt be having internal mens sports. I think all the sports should be under some, in some cases that makes sense for the sport to be paired up with its body. Compatriot as in ski and snowboard, for example, has ski and snowboard. I think it makes a lot of sense there to your example, Lakeshore Foundation where im actually heading to later today, is, you know, they have, they manage two paralympic sports that are fairly unique and dont have perfect able bodied, sort of match ups. I think it makes a lot of sense in that regard to have sort of a bit of specialized knowledge. So i guess the answer to your question is that the internally managed model i dont believe is one that is sustainable and should succeed. And i understand there are a lot of challenges and reasons as to why we have that. And its a, its a decent fallback option. But the goal should be for all, all paralympic sports to be managed either by their, by their able, by compatriot or, you know, you had a paralympic Sport Organization that, you know, manages ones that again dont have a really good equivalent. And so theres not a natural place for it to fall into sort of like swimming or Something Like that. Thank you, commissioner cob, ill yield to you for a question, miss cable and the reforms to create more opportunities for athletes with disabilities or disabled athletes. However, you identify uh in the Paralympic Movement extended to youth grassroots or development pathways. Thank you for that question. No, and id say that, you know, simply because we dont see, we, we dont see any building out of, of opportunities for disabled youth. I think chucks story was really great because he said, you know, basically it was somebody said something to him about playing sport and, oh, my gosh, i can play sport. Your story that you, you gave us earlier in the beginning. Same thing. Its all word of mouth within sport. For disabled folk. I think that, i think that, its gotten very stuck that way because we havent gotten the support of the support of, of the, well, the us olympic and Paralympic Committee, uh, for one, once us paralympics, i mean, the Us Olympic Paralympic Committee kind of really started dabbling a little bit in paralympic sport a little bit before us, paralympics in 2001. But once us paralympics came as a division, it really seemed like the natural progression would be to bring in all of these Grassroots Development if they were going to be basically an n gb for at least six or seven sports, paralympic sports, right . And we didnt see, we havent seen any of that really happen. We see some, some clinics happen once in a while, but those are usually funded by an outside source. There was at one time, there was a quite a bit of money for veterans that and so we saw a lot of clinics and camps. I was teaching Cross Country skiing and sit down Cross Country skiing at the time. And, and we, the only ones we were seeing was the veterans and it was because there was so much va money that was going into us paralympics to support Cross Country skiing that we, these clinics were happening around. But that was really it, there was if you were a citizen, uh you were required to pay all your own expenses and to bring all your own equipment. But as a veteran, all their expenses were paid as well as they were given equipment, you know, from, from these, from these grants that were available and the grants arent really available for any outside organizations. I live in los angeles. Theres several sports organizations for people with disabilities there and all of them work independently of each other. There isnt a lot of cohesion that goes on between them because theyre all basically searching for the same dollar and they dont get any support from the Us Olympic Paralympic Committee. They also, you know, they also are in los angeles are creating the, the sport programming with the parks and racks with the the parks and recs with the city because when l. A. 28 took l took a 28 2028. One of the things was that the ioc gave 2028 a bunch of money to go into developing some kind of sport for, for youth in los angeles. I think its 60 million that the ioc gave 2028 and 2028 gave that money to the city of los angeles to start some sports programs. And so parks and rec have started to develop some programs, but there are programs really, that are gonna be at no cost to kids. So its the original programs that already exist, but theyre at no cost. And then the sports for disabled youth, uh there was, theres four of them and im not sure if theyre really going to be sustainable, uh are available right now for, for some disabled youth to come and try some sports. And one is sitting boley ball, sitting volleyball and one is wheelchair basketball. One is quan, which is really is equestrian which is really surprising because its probably the most expensive sport to do. So also i want to say too is the coaches that weve had in the past in disabled sport and that really pioneered sport are all aging out and were not seeing new coaches come in. And so that also limits the pathways and the Grassroots Development. And we dont have any development for new coaches really coming forward in paralympics. I know theres some programs but really focusing and getting people excited about paralympic sport doesnt seem to be at the, at the top of the agenda, right. Thank you. Miss cable. I will uh yield back to my cochair. I want to thank each of you for being here today to make sure that these important issues are front and center for the commission and inform our study and our report to congress. Our final panel of this session concerns good governance. And at this time, id like to invite our next witness to take his place at the table. Since its creation in 2000 and recognition by congress in 2001, the Us Anti Doping Agency or usada has been working to root out the use of performance enhancing drugs and other prohibited substances and methods in our sports. Much like safe sport. Usada has been tasked by congress to oversee the protection of an indispensable value in American Sports which is fair play. Today, the United States is viewed as a leader in clean sport and usada is respected by athletes and by participants across the movement to help us understand why that is the case and how usada became an example of success. We are joined by its ceo Travis Tigert who has led the agency since 2007, mister tigert. Im pleased to yield you five minutes to share your testimony with the commission. Thank you, cochair. I want to thank this commission obviously for the opportunity to be here. Its a true honor for me to represent the Wonderful Team at our small and independent board to be here to assist you. And hopefully we answer any questions you have about on the incredible and important work that you all have before you. We are unique in the olympic and Paralympic Movement and that were a private organization, but were also authorized and recognized by the u. S. Congress as the National Anti doping organization for olympic and paralympic sport here in the United States. And while, you know, we certainly appreciate that you that we are not directly under the purview of your study. According to the act, were honored to have worked with the commission over the past several months and certainly look forward to offering any insight we may have that can help you in, in your purpose. The most important reason for our success is our independence. The word independent is thrown around a lot in the olympic and Paralympic Movement from our experience. However, the only true definition of independence is that those who govern or otherwise make decisions affecting others cannot have an interest actual or perceived in the outcome of the decisions that theyre making. No usada board member or staff member can serve in any paid or voluntary governing or employment capacity with an organization that we provide services to. You simply cannot have the fox guarding the henhouse athletes have come to trust usada because theres not a single decision we make that we dont first ask ourselves what is best for clean athletes. We view athletes and their powerful stories as our Guiding Light as our north star. We must ensure a properly structured and fund funded system both here in the United States as well as around the world. To ensure that athletes that compete on the global playing field, can do so with integrity and can win the right way. Youve heard the stories unfortunately, of athletes who have been adversely affected by systems that do not protect their rights. American shot putter, adam nelson was awarded a gold medal nine years after the 2004 athens summer Olympic Games. When the person that won the gold that day positive the most tested positive. The most decorated olympian in history, Michael Phelps in this very room sitting right here in 2017, testified that as a clean athlete, he always had serious doubts about whether or not he was competing on a global level playing field. Even as we all sit here today, theres another group of athletes that have been robbed of their rights and the irreparable damage that has been done by them losing their moment on the podium. Youve heard the story of the Us Figure Skating Team whose podium moment continues to hang in purgatory because of the overdue case of a russian figure skater has yet to be resolved by a global system that has delayed justice so long that effectively this justice has been denied. These stories unfortunately, go on and on and on. All athletes deserve better and certainly justice demands better. Of course, even with the noblest missions, the best governance structures and adequate resources, organizations are only as good as their culture. It is the people that make the team that make up the organization. Obviously, the independent private public model has worked for usada, and while we understand your review is is not also looking at the global arena. We would recommend that you reconfirm that this independent model is essential for success at all levels of anti doping work and integrity efforts. The timing of your work cannot be overstated as im sure you have heard and also realize the belief in institutions, particularly organizations for sport, including governance and integrity across the Global Sports landscape could be at an all time low trust and confidence in sport integrity has declined significantly in recent years and seems unfortunately only to be getting worse. The new threats from legalized betting now available roughly 37 states and the district of columbia in the u. S. In il pressures at the collegiate level and the influx of extraordinary amounts of money into sport at all levels in the u. S. And around the world has sport and athletes at an important crossroads to a large extent. The personal well being of the next generation of athletes hangs in the balance. This is not just about elite olympic and paralympic athletes. This is about every kid on a playground who grows up, who asks themselves, what do i have to do to make my dreams come true . And the truth is if we as a movement, if we dont push, if we dont win on all the issues that affect athletes, we will likely find ourselves back in the same position years from now. Staring down another egregious scandal that has abused athletes and robbed another generation of athletes in the process and well all be wondering why, why didnt we do more when we had the chance . Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today and look forward to any questions you may have. Thank you, mr tigert. In our study, we surveyed uh a large sample of Movement Participants including athletes, coaches and sports officials. Nearly eight in 10 indicated they trust usada. More than 40 completely trust the agency. What in your view has made us aa so highly trusted across the movement . Well, thanks, thanks for that. And, and obviously, we obviously, were incredibly humbled and honored and thankful for, for those results and, and, and that athletes trust and have confidence in, in us and, and, and the programs that we run, you know, i, i think we set out to simply do the right thing for the right reasons. You know, sometimes thats popular but frankly, a lot of times thats not very popular. I mean, i, i can assure you the, the leadership of the world Anti Doping Agency right now is still probably not very happy with us because we pushed for reform and justice in the state sponsored russian scandal and to hold russia accountable and the global anti doping system accountable in a, in a better way that failed athletes quite frankly. But, you know, we dont follow the polls and were not here to do whats politically convenient we just stay true. I think, and i hope to the commitment that weve given to clean athletes and i think having a fair accountable, transparent, consistent process, whether youre a global icon like Lance Armstrong or a weekend warrior under our jurisdiction. Theres no fear or favor and how the application of the rules happens. And i think at the end of the day, clean athletes have the most to lose when were not doing our job, right . And i think they have come to appreciate and respect the work that we do because its their hard work, its their sacrifice. Its their commitment to winning the right way. Ultimately, that, that they need us to be successful in order for their dreams to become a reality. Great. Commissioner korb, i yield to you mr tiger on the record. I can say i do not miss that knock on the door from the doping control agent. In your testimony, you talk about usadas independence. If you a were funded through the usopc, like safe sport is and not supported by congressional appropriations to the White House Office of National Drug control policy, what impact would that have on your independence and on the amount of trust usada enjoys across the movement . Yeah, and karin, thanks for the, the comment prior to the question. And, and its incredible what our athletes go through that many people dont know. And the level of inconvenience and lack of privacy when we literally have your whereabouts information, 365 days a year and our olympic athletes should be congratulated and paralympic athletes should be congratulated for the effort they put into it and, and the reason you did it and many other athletes in this country do it is because its a lot less inconvenient when they get on the podium and theyve lost to someone thats cheated them. So thank you for your commitment in, in that regard and its not easy and we fully understand that and, and appreciate that and want to make it as easy as we can, you know, from an independent standpoint in funding, i think, i mean, obviously the sinner has, uh as i understand it, basically a 20 the center has basically a 20 million guarantee, maybe with no or very few Strings Attached and at some level, i think that actually gives you complete independence. The appearance however, and the perception that that money is coming from the United States olympic and Paralympic Committee. So its sport, it, it raises the issues of the fox actually guarding the henhouse that i mentioned previously. So i think its really important to, for folks to understand the sources of funding and whats attached to that funding. You know, our, our, our Public Private model works, we think extremely well. Its in our opinion, the best model here for what we do and the United States. But, but i can assure you, there have been times in the past whether it was the Lance Armstrong case or our, our position against, you know, russia state sponsored doping. Were both of our funders, uh both the government, folks, a few select politicians as well as some sport leaders in the United States did not want us doing the job that we did and we had to make a commitment and our, our board did and our staff did that. Were going to have the resolve to put ourselves out of business before we compromise the oath and the duty that we have sworn to the millions of athletes that were here to protect. Thank you uh to cochair yield to cochair cohler for a follow up. Thank you, mr tygart. It seems you testified that independence and athlete trust are really at the core of your success. We have worked hard as our commission processes move forward. Weve been very eager to hear directly from athletes on their experiences within the movement and how their voices or how they believe their voices have been heard. Can you provide us with some examples of athlete feedback being directly incorporated into usada operations . Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that. Dion, listen, were, were also eager always for athlete feedback and find ways to, to seek it. Surveys, small group meetings, interaction with team usa commission. Two, i would hope that everything we do in our program is a direct result of athlete feedback, or at the very least if our staff is making a decision or has a judgment call to make, theyre first asking themselves whats the right answer based on what clean athletes would expect from us . So that, thats my hope certainly and that we would then follow through with that and make sure that that is in line with what athletes would expect. You know, i think, i think one example thats led to great change around the world, not as much as we would, we would hope for, of course, but is when the media reported and broke the state sponsored doping scandal out of russia in late 2014. It to a large extent, unfortunately fell on deaf ears at the world Anti Doping Agency and within the Global Sports movement, they wanted to, to limit it just to that investigation and not broaden the investigation. But at the time, we met with individual athletes, we met with groups of athletes, not just here in the United States, but also around the world. German athletes independent commission, for example. And we said we have to go lock arms with clean athletes who are demanding, you know, justice and reform. So justice for the hundreds of individual athletes that were robbed by this state sponsored doping scheme as well as reform to the global system to ensure Athlete Voice is better incorporated and they actually have a vote at the World Antidoping Agency and make it as independent as we possibly can. Thats what led i mentioned previously, the testimony by Michael Phelps here in this room. It was a 2017 house energy and commerce subcommittee that looked at what can be done from a reform standpoint to the global effort of the world Anti Doping Agency. Still a lot of work to be done there. But certainly an example, i think in line with your question where we heard directly from athletes and, and took the call and, and did what they expected us to do in that environment. Thank you for that and thank you for your testimony that concludes this session of the hearing at this time, we will recess for a short break and we will reconvene at [background noises] i like to call this hearing back to order. For our final session of the day we have four witnesses who can help us understand broader trends in youth Sports Participation the view from the private sector, issues involving coaching and how other nations have structured governance and oversight. With us for this session as project manager the Institute Sport and Society Program. Sally, Co Executive Director of the United States at peace players, Jeremy Goldberg the president of a leak asking tom the founder and executive director of the aspen Institute Sport and Society Program is was a former sports journalist and author of the 2007 book game on the all american race makes a champion of our children print out also like to note katrina from the u. S. Department of health and human services