The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) will provide its Athletes’ Advisory Committee (AAC) with a yearly budget to advise the USOPC on athlete needs.
The USOPC announced the news this week. In its press release, the USOPC says it will provide a starting budget of $525,000 to the AAC for the first year, with 2% increases every year after that. The athlete committee will have full autonomy in how that budget is spent.
The USOPC release says the move was made with the vision of hiring a executive director for the AAC in the future.
The Olympic Committee has taken criticism over the past few years on multiple fronts – many of them related to athlete safety as the Olympic sporting world was rocked by allegations of abuse against coaches and other officials. The most notable was the lifetime-sentence for former U.S. Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing athletes under the guise of medical treatment.
The AAC is meant to provide athlete representation within the USOPC. The press release says the AAC budget can support “staffing, projects and travel for the AAC.”
The current Memorandum of Understanding is effective through the end of 2024, and the USOPC says it will renew the agreement annually.