United States Olympic Committee

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USOC redirects here. For USOC in telephony, see Universal Service Ordering Code.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is a non-profit organization that is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.

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Mission

As an NOC, USOC supports American athletes in general and Olympic athletes in particular. Athletes that wish to participate in the Olympics are approved and entered by USOC. The committee is also responsible for entering athletes in the Pan American Games.

To support athletes, the US Olympic Committee has established a number of training centres throughout the country, where top athletes can live, train and get specialised medical attention.

All other American Olympic affairs are also dealt with by USOC. This includes a preliminary selection among American cities that wish to host a future celebration of the Olympics. The winner selected by USOC will be allowed to submit a bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is in charge of selecting the eventual host city.

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History

After the IOC was formed in 1894, the two American members, James P. Sullivan and William Sloane formed a committee to organize the participation of American athletes in the first modern Olympics in Athens.

Over the years, the name of the committee changed, and finally became United States Olympic Committee in 1961. The USOC is currently chartered as a monopoly by the United States government under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

The current head of the USOC is Peter Ueberroth.

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