Olympic commission suggests wide-ranging changes to SafeSport and USOPC

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

A panel charged with reviewing the Olympic structure in the U.S. is calling for Congress to consider wide-ranging changes. Those include government funding of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, severing grassroots from the elite sports system and even removing the word “amateur” in a potential rewrite of the 1978 law that created the modern-day Olympic structure. The commission released its 275-page report, concluding in part that “we need a better long-term vision for how we organize Olympic- and Paralympic-movement sports in America.” The tension between grassroots and elite sports is a common theme throughout the document. Untethering the two could benefit both the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the SafeSport center.