COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — After watching their athletes pile up medals in Brazil, leaders of the U.S. Olympic team came home and produced results that could resonate every bit as loudly.
Among the U.S. Olympic Committee's achievements over the past 10 days were the re-embracing of black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos — two of the most iconic figures in Olympic history — the righting of a racially tinged omission dating back 80 years and the decision to take an unflinching look at where America's Olympic teams stand in their mission to become more diverse.
The USOC has used the weeks following the 2016 Games to remind both itself and the world that the Olympic movement was created to bring people of different nations, colors and creeds together — and not to simply put on a lavish sports festival every two years.