Team USA Media Summit - Day Three

The final day of the Team USA Media Summit started in a unique way, as the media was invited to attend the lighting ceremony at the Empire State Building. This event had a number of Olympians and Paralympians flip a switch that ceremoniously lit the Empire State Building in red, white and blue in honor of reaching the 100-day countdown to the Paris Olympics. The official ceremony took place in the lobby and then the athletes and the media journeyed up to the observation deck for more photo opportunities. This was a cool way to start the final day of the media summit.

Back at the hotel, the first panel of the day was the Outdoor Water Panel, which featured  Evy Leibfarth (canoe), Blake Haxton (para canoe), Michelle Sechser (rowing), Ben Washburne (para rowing) and Carissa Moore (surfing).

"My first Olympics, I didn’t really have too much experience, I had a hard time dealing with mental side of it," Leibfarth said. "The mindset has evolved to more of the journey than the actual results."

"As amazing as it was in 2021, it was an odd experience, so I am looking forward to have a more typical experience and seeing other athletes compete," Haxton noted. 

"One second from gold medal is tough," Sechser said. "The hope is to make the final and be part of the last final that will ever happen for lightweight women’s doubles (which will be in the Olympics for the final time in Paris). 

"Hoping to soak in the whole experience and meet a lot of people in the para community," Washburne noted.

"I hope I can leave a little kindness and a sprinkler of love wherever I go," Moore stated. "I'm looking forward to competing in Tahiti, women have only been competing there for a few years."

The Style and Sport panel was next, featuring Jessica Long (para swimming), Jagger Eaton (skateboarding), Jeffrey Louis (breaking) and Daniela Moroz (sailing).

"There’s nothing better than getting into opening ceremony outfit, taking pictures and being part of something bigger than yourself," Long said. "I have seen how much sport and fashion have evolved over 20 years. I can’t say how excited we were as athletes when Ralph Lauren came aboard."

"I’m always thinking about what I’m wearing. What you’re wearing is kind of how you feel," Eaton said. "What I walk around in my lifestyle wear is exactly what I skate in."

"Style is a huge part of hip hop and breaking. You have your own individual style," Louis said. "Whatever you put out there, appearance wise, how you speak, is what people see."

"You want to look good to feel good," Moroz said. "I always keep all my jewelry on, something I like to do for me. It's a nice reminder for me to feel like me and have a piece of me on the water."

The Accessibility and Sport panel was next, featuring Kaleo Kanahele Maclay (sitting volleyball), Zion Redington (wheelchair rugby), Nick Taylor (boccia), Ian Seidenfeld (para table tennis), David Wagner (wheelchair tennis) and Julie Dussliere (USOPC Chief of Paralympics and Internally Managed Sports).

"Seen so many changes over the last 20 years in a really positive way, but we still have a long way to go," Dussliere said. "Paralympic athletes are in a fantastic position to share thoughts and ideas. I’ve seen a lot of growth in our sports venues here in the US but transportation is the number one challenge our athletes face."

Each athlete talked about what accessibility meant to them.

"It’s the freedom to be able to go where we want to go and do what we want to do without feeling like a burden," Taylor said.

"While there’s a basic level of being able to do what other people can do with ease, it’s also feeling good about it and not feeling like you’re putting someone else out," Seidenfeld said. 

"Including all disabilities in the broad spectrum of disabilities, "Kanahele Maclay said. "People aren’t always aware of how broad the spectrum of disabilities is."

"Freedom, the ability to come and go without having to check if the place is accessible or the transportation is accessible," Walker said.

"Being in a place where I don’t have to assist anyone, where they can do that themselves," Redington said.

The first panel of the afternoon was the Future of Sport panel, which focused on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics as well as the likely bid that will go to Salt Lake City for the 2034 Winter Olympics. On the panel were  Janet Evans (LA28), Cat Rainey-Norman (Salt Lake City) and Gene Sykes (USOPC chair).

"We had a beautiful week with IOC, they got to see the living legacy we have in Utah," Rainey-Norman said. "This is an incredible opportunity to build the Olympic and Paralympic movement. Done an amazing job in maintaining our facilities since 2002."

"In LA our legacy is going to be our people, our community. We wanted a pre-legacy," Evans said. "The PlayLA program has been wildly successful with our young people. During the bid process, we talked about the Olympics and Paralympics running through the heart of our city. People are excited about our Games, they understand what the Games will do. It will be an entire community that is impacted for years to come."

"I like to think about this as two Games in a decade and that doesn’t happen very often. It's an opportunity for this generation of Americans to make an impact on the Olympics and Olympic movement," Sykes said. "The Paralympic experience is extraordinary, Paralympic sport is relatable to everyone, it's going to be one of the most exciting things about 2028. Our country is very important to the Olympic and Paralympic movement right now."

The Basketball Panel was divided in half, with the first half focusing on the 3v3 game and the second half focusing on the 5v5 game. The panels included Jimmer Fredette (3v3 basketball), Canyon Barry (3v3 basketball), Kareem Maddox (3v3 basketball), Dylan Travis (3v3 basketball), Breanna Stewart (5v5 basketball), Cheryl Reeve (Team USA head coach), Grant Hill (manager director of USA basketball).

Fredette noted that he was the newcomer to the group but also the oldest member and praised his teammates for getting him up to speed on the 3v3 game, which he noted is much different than the 5v5 game. Maddox pointed out that the 3v3 game is a very physical game but it used to be even more physical. As a small college guy, Travis said he never imagined the Olympics was a possibility, but he stepped down from his job as a teacher and a coach to pursue the Olympic dream when the 3v3 opportunity presented itself. Barry, who grew up in a well-known basketball family, said that there isn't much in the sport that his family hasn't done, but he will be the first to compete in the Olympics.

Hill looked back on the 1992 Dream Team and pointed out how that has impacted the Olympic basketball field since.

"One of the reasons for Dream Team in 1992 was to spread the game globally. Mission accomplished," he said. "It's great for the game but it makes it tough for us as a team."

With the roster finalized, he noted that he has a good group of competitive players who are ready to go to work to win another gold medal.

Stewart, who has already won Olympic gold, is aiming to return to the Olympics and win another one, though the women's team has not been officially announced yet. She spoke of the unique situation of stopping the WNBA season in the middle and going to battle with people who were her opponents just a week earlier.

"Because we know how difficult it is to win at this level, we go in with a level of respect," she said. "We respect each other’s games. At least we’re on the same side, we don’t have to guard each other."

Reeve noted that the onset of the WNBA has given her an even wider pool of talented players to choose from, as girls now don't know a world without it and they know that it is there and something to aspire to, so there's a young, talented pool of players that continues to grow.

The next group featured a number of track and field and swimming athletes, two of the most popular sports at the Olympics. On the panel were Bobby Finke (swimming), Ryan Crouser (track and field), Olivia Chambers (para swimming), Lydia Jacoby (swimming) and Nick Mayhugh (para track and field).

Chambers said she was looking forward to being in the Olympic Village with her teammates and getting the chance to meet people from around the world. Finke is excited to go back and defend his medals and get in the water and beat his competition. Jacoby pointed out that she was a surprise medal winner in Tokyo, but this time she is going in without putting any pressure on herself. Mayhugh noted he was a soccer guy trying to do track and field when he went to Tokyo, now he feels he is truly a track athlete and Crouser said he is looking forward to the return of the Olympic feeling after Tokyo, where there were no fans and the atmosphere was much different.

The final panel was Aiming for Paris, featuring Casey Kaufhold (archery), Matt Stutzman (para archery), Eli Dershwitz (fencing), Ellen Geddes (wheelchair fencing).

Kaufhold, who was 17 when she competed in Tokyo, said it feels like a whole lifetime ago rather than just three years. Dershwitz said that he is excited to be a part of Team USA and excited to be around so many highly-disciplined athletes. Geddes said she was excited to have her friends and family able to travel to see her compete and Stutzman said he is excited that his kids will get the chance to come and see him for the first time in the Olympics.

The next stop was the train station, where it was time to catch the train back to Boston, which of course was delayed, putting the whole trip home in jeopardy, as there was only a small window of time between the train arriving and the bus departing.

Olympians who flipped the switch to light the Empire State Building in red, white and blue, pose for a photo on the top of the building.