Every two years, the United States has the opportunity to prove it is the most athletic country in the world in the Olympics. Americans have been successful in recent summer and winter Olympics as of late — but the Olympic committee is not happy.
It seems it is not enough today that the team has a merit-based system in which the best athletes in a number of winter sports earned their way onto Team USA with a chance to compete in the winter games.
Apparently, the squad is not diverse enough for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s liking.
This year’s U.S. Winter Olympic team is actually the most diverse yet. It features 10 African-Americans, 11 Asian-Americans, and the first two openly gay Olympians in the country’s history. Still, a 4 percent black and 4 percent Asian squad does not satisfy Jason Thompson, the Olympic Committee’s director of diversity and inclusion.
“We’re not quite where we want to be. I think full-on inclusion has always been a priority of Team USA. I think everybody’s always felt it should represent every American,” he recently told The Washington Post.
He added, “We are not going to fix everything overnight, but we are planting the seeds and we have been for some time. We are starting to see them grow.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]An African American skater on the U.S. Olympic team is angry about the results of a coin toss that was used to decide whether he, or a white female skater, would represent the U.S. in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics this week in Peyongchang, South Korea.
In a Thursday tweet, champion speed skater Shani Davis — who is black —injected race into the coin flip decision over which athlete would carry the U.S. flag during the opening ceremonies.
Earlier this week, U.S. Luger Erin Hamlin — who is white — was chosen to carry the flag from among a group of U.S athletes. However, Davis, who was also one of the finalists, included the hashtag #BlackHistoryMonth2018 in a tweet. After listing several of his accomplishments, which he believes, should have made him the flag-bearer.
“I am an American and when I won the 1000m in 2010 I became the first American to 2-peat in that event. @TeamUSA dishonorably tossed a coin to decide its 2018 flag bearer. No problem. I can wait until 2022,” he wrote on February 8.
Davis’ status as an American and his accomplishments as an Olympian, are not in dispute. Though, one has to wonder why he included the Black History Month hashatg, in his tweet. Unless of course, Davis is alleging race played a factor in the decision. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]With the opening ceremonies for the 2018 Winter Olympics just three days away, the United States Olympic Committee worries the U.S. team is not diverse enough.
The U.S. is sending the largest team ever to a Winter Games: 243 athletes. It’s the most diverse team the U.S. has ever sent to a Winter Games, but it still isn’t enough.
In all, only 10 members of this year’s team are black and 11 are Asian, according to USA Today. The team also includes the first two openly gay American athletes.
In 2016, 23 percent of Team USA was black while just 4 percent of this year’s team is black.
Jason Thompson, the Olympic Committee’s director of diversity and inclusion, told the Washington Post the Olympic Committee is committed to ensuring Team USA is as diverse as possible.
“We’re not quite where we want to be. I think full-on inclusion has always been a priority of Team USA. I think everybody’s always felt it should represent every American,” he said. – READ MORE
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