Third Anniversary Of My First Visit To The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum
Three years ago, on May 7, 2021, my long-time Deaflympian friend, Walter von Feldt (pictured) of Monument, Colorado, and I visited the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum (USOPM) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the first time.
Before entering the USOPM, I expected to see the following:
an entire wall exhibit about the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (ASA),
an entire wall exhibit about the 1980 USA Olympic Boycott,
any items related to the USOC Committee on Sports for the Disabled (COSD), entitled initially Handicapped in Sports Committee (HISC),
a few items about the Deaflympics, despite the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) having yet to recognize “Deaflympics.”
After registering and paying for admission to the USOPM, Walter and I were greeted by an uncertified interpreter for the Deaf, who was training as a Paralympian swimmer at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center nearby. (Her interpreting was rather good, so we were satisfied.)
After an all-morning tour, including seeing hundreds of items, we went to La Baguette Cafe and Espresso Bar for lunch. My mind was hammered there by the question, “Where are the ASA items?”
Amateur Sports Act
After lunch, I returned to the Museum and asked the front desk where I could find the items related to the Amateur Sports Act.
Later, the Vice President of USOPM Athlete Engagement came down and escorted me to the location below.
The artifact display case on the ASA (not the wall) is at the end of a jetty off the top floor’s main space (by sprint track lanes). Therefore, It is the most hidden spot in the entire Museum.
Only 42 words!
Several months later, I grabbed the 1970s plastic whistle and blew it to the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper.
As a result, the Gazette ran the front-page story on January 30, 2022 - On the trail of display errors at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum - so you will be able to read the whole story.
1980 USA Olympic Boycott
The USOPM has a small (not giant) wall about this boycott (by the walking ramp.)
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Committee on Sports for the Disabled
Like no showing of the President’s Commission on Olympic Sports, the Museum has zero mention of this COSD (formerly HISC) inside the $91 million building.
The first HISC chair was Kathryn Jane (Kathy) Sallade, a Deaflympian Swimmer with five gold medals.
Interestingly, one of the original HISC members is Donna de Verona, currently on the USOPC Board of Directors.
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Deaflympics
There is no Deaflympic item in this Museum. However, the USOPM has displayed photos of two Deaflympians, Jeff Float and Rebecca “Becca” Meyers.
But the USOPM has yet to mention that Jeff collected ten medals in the 1977 World Games for the Deaf (renamed to Deaflympics in 2001) and then became the first legally deaf athlete from the United States to win an Olympic gold medal by earning it in men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay in the 1984 Olympics.
The Museum also failed to mention that, at 14, Becca earned the first-ever international medal – a bronze medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay in the 2009 Deaflympics. Then, as a Paralympian, she collected six medals in two Paralympics (2012 and 2016) and received the Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award twice (2015 and 2017).
While waiting to receive the order from the USOPM, the Deaflympic artifacts are stored in a no-climate-controlled portable storage container in Denver, only 65 miles north of the USOPM. (Of course, my Deaflympic items and documents are in the climate-controlled storage in Morgantown, West Virginia.)
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Aftermath
As of this writing, the USOPM has yet to receive accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).
Read the earlier issue - USOPM Has Yet To Be Accredited By The American Alliance of Museums (February. 1, 2024), so you will understand why.
This baton has still been missing since November 2, 2023, at the USOPM.
Read the earlier issue - Where Is The TSOASA/Title IX-WG Baton? (December 6, 2023). So you will find out why.
Oops
On October 21, 2020, the New York Times published an article titled “At the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, All Athletes Are Equal.” (Subscribed??)
All athletes at the Museum equal????? Reporter Ray Mark Rinaldi might not have known about excluding the Deaflympics from the Museum. He wrote nothing about any athletes who are deaf and hard of hearing. He did write, “Sign language interpreters appear in the corner of videos.”
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Look at the three photos above relating to the Paralympics. The current USOPM archivist and collections curator happens to be a Paralympian.
Hundreds of Deaflympians, past and present, are still waiting for Congress to amend the Deaflympics to the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. If so, they will zoom to Colorado Springs to peek at the Deaflympics items. (Oddly, Colorado Springs is the home of the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind.)
Howard “Howie” Gorrell attended 13 of the last 14 Deaflympics since 1969 and is a 2004 recipient of the USADSF Jerald M. Jordan Award, given to those who exhibit leadership and continuous participation toward the goals of the Deaflympics and the 2011 Art Kruger Award for demonstrating leadership and constant participation, support and contribution in the USADSF over an extended period.