CSUSOP: When-????
Below is what a 79-year-old former Deaflympian has done since 1978-!!!
ASA = Amateur Sports Act of 1978
TSOASA = Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1998
EOPAAA = Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020
CSUSOP = Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics
USOPC = United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee
When will the USOPC open the doors for hundreds of past, present, and future Deaflympians?
Suppose the CSUSOP would not recommend in its final report for Congress that the Deaflympics not be included in the USOPC program. Will the 79-year-old man climb to another higher peak to attend another USOPC reform hearing?
That man is me.
In 2021, a 19-year-old hard-of-hearing sprinter from Philadelphia, PA, was trained at the Texas School for the Deaf (top picture) in Austin, TX, for the 2022 Summer Deaflympics held in Caxias do Sul, Brazil.
In the 2022 Games, she received a silver medal in the women's 4×100 relay in her first appearance.
Standing next to Rihanna during the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show (below picture), this hard-of-hearing lovely Bowie State University student wooed the stadium audience and streaming television viewers with her ultra-beautiful American Sign Language performance interpreting Rihanna's singing.
Watch the 13-minute video of her interpreting for Rihanna.
Her name is Justina Miles.
Sadly, she did not receive financial assistance from the USOPC for her training expenses in Texas and $5000 from the USOPC Enhanced Operation Gold program for her silver medal.
The reason is that the USOPC has yet to recognize the Deaflympics despite the International Olympic Committee recognizing the Deaflympics in 2001 (23 years ago!)
If the USOPC agrees to include the Deaflympic program, it will end my 46-year battle for parity with the USOPC.
Go get 'em Howie!