Congratulations to the "New" USOPC
Here is the draft of “Guest Column” I submitted to The Gazette (commonly called the Colorado Springs Gazette) last Monday. However, yesterday, The Gazette decided not to publish it because it focuses on local residents.
Ironically, The Gazette already published my first one last January - “USOPC’s DE&I contains at least one exclusion.” (broken link)
Title: Congratulations to the “New” USOPC
After the 25th Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo, Japan, from November 15-26, the US team finished third in gold medals and sixth in total medals among 79 nations. The team won 15 golds, seven silvers, and 12 bronzes, totaling 35 medals. The top-ranked team, heading to Ukraine, earned 32 golds, 38 silvers, 31 bronzes, and 101 medals. Countries like Japan (51 medals), China (50), South Korea (43), and Iran (37) outperformed the US in total medals.
Embarrassment for the US Team? My answer is a big yes because the US team, which once ranked first at every four-year World Deaf Games (WGD) (renamed Deaflympics in 2001) from 1973 in Malmö to 2001 in Rome, is now facing a significant setback.
What happened? As an original member of the USOC Handicapped in Sports Committee in 1979, who attended the 2025 Tokyo Games for my 14th Summer Deaflympics, I am grateful to congratulate the “new” United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) on bringing down the US Team.
On November 8, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (ASA), which included a provision for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to “encourage and provide assistance to amateur athletic programs and competition for handicapped individuals, including, where feasible, the expansion of opportunities for meaningful participation by handicapped individuals in programs of athletic competition for able-bodied individuals.”
Between the enactment of the ASA in 1978 and the passage of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act in 1998 (TSOASA), the “old” USOC supported the American Athletic Association of the Deaf (AAAD), which was later renamed the USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF) in 1998, as follows:
Provided development funds to AAAD’s national sport organizations to support their teams' preparation for the WGDs and the World Deaf Championships. (Successful since the USA Team finished first in the overall medal standings from 1981 to 2001.)
Permitted the 1985 USA-WGD team to train at the USOC Training Center for two weeks before the 1985 WGD Games in Los Angeles. (Successful since the USA team finished first in the overall medal standings—the highest total of 170 medals in AAAD/USADSF history)
Provided funds and a meeting room at the training center in 1989 for 50 deaf sport leaders to study the reconstruction of the AAAD based on the ASA law. (Successful, as the leaders voted in approval.)
Provided funds to the AAAD for establishing a home office for the first-ever Executive Director. (Successful as the Director managed communication effectively with sports leaders.)
Suddenly, the Paralympian advocates urged the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to include the Paralympics as a rider in the 1998 Omnibus Appropriations Package because the original bill, “Olympic and Amateur Sports Act,” had failed in the legislative process, even though the USOC had never received federal funds. This effort resulted in the passage of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1998.
Unfortunately, the USOC was compelled to create the US Paralympic Division in 2001 and subsequently stopped supporting athletes who are deaf and hard of hearing. No additional development funds for deaf athletes were provided after March 2003, and the USOC’s lack of funding led to the closure of the USADSF office, leaving many disappointed and concerned about future support.
Worst of all, the USA team dropped to 4th place in total medals at the 2005 Games, then 7th in 2009, 6th in 2013, and 11th in 2017 (ISIS scare kept most Americans from participating). They rose to 3rd in the 2022 Games (a COVID scare prevented several powerful nations, including Russia, England, and Japan, from competing), but then fell back to 6th in the 2025 Games.
The 2024 Final Report of the Commission on the State of US Olympics & Paralympics recommended the following to Congress:
“Congress should also study further the challenges faced by deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes and proposals to integrate deaf sports into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement; in the meantime, USOPC should work with the USA Deaf Sports Federation to remove impediments to its full use of Deaflympic trademarks and access to sponsorships.”
Since then, no action has been taken.
Howard “Howie” Gorrell has attended 14 of the last 15 Deaflympics since 1969. He received the 2004 USADSF Jerald M. Jordan Award for leadership and ongoing participation in the Deaflympics. In 2011, he was also honored with the Art Kruger Award for demonstrating leadership, consistent participation, support, and contribution to the USADSF over an extended period.