Mike Levin: “It has been observed that America does not send its athletes to the Olympic Games, Americans do. Indeed, the U.S.…”

“It has been observed that America does not send its athletes to the Olympic Games, Americans do. Indeed, the U.S. Olympic Committee, whose responsibilities include the support for training and selecting athletes to represent the United States in the Olympic and Pan America Games, is the only major national Olympic Committee from among the 197 participating nations that receives no funding whatsoever from its federal or state governments. All funds for training U.S. athletes must come from private sources, including an individual's personal resources. In September 2000 more than 800 young American men and women will gather in Sydney, Australia to represent their countrymen in the XXVII Olympiad. They will join more than 10,000 other athletes from nearly 200 nations to engage in friendly competition. Many will have spent more than a decade preparing for what Jesse Owens once referred to as 'fifteen seconds of glory.' As they have since the modern Olympic Games were instituted in 1896, Americans back home will follow with great pride the accomplishments of the U.S. athletes, and will vicariously share in each triumph.”