Law - Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

Disability Sports

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Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

The Amateur Sports Act (Public Law 95-606) was adopted in 1978. This law was amended in 1998 to become the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (OASA). Because of the efforts of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska to shepherd this law through Congress, the 1998 amendments are often called the "Ted Stevens Amendments."

The original Amateur Sports Act, as adopted in 1978, required the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) “to encourage and provide assistance to amateur athletic programs and competition for handicapped individuals, including, where feasible, the expansion of meaningful participation by handicapped individuals in programs of athletic competition for able-bodied individuals.” The USOC addressed this goal by:

Supporting disability sports organizations including Disabled Sports USA, Dwarf Athletic Association of America, National Disability Sports Alliance, Special Olympics International, USA Deaf Sports Federation, U.S. Association of Blind Athletes, and Wheelchair Sports USA. These organizations and their member athletes have benefited from USOC funding, as well as their membership status within the USOC.

Encouraging national governing bodies (NGBs) for Olympic and Pan American sports organizations to facilitate participation in their programs by elite athletes with disabilities.

The 1998 Stevens Amendments placed greater responsibility on the USOC and its constituent organizations to serve elite athletes with a disability, in particular Paralympic athletes. The USOC has responded to the Stevens Amendments by:

	Serving as the National Paralympic Committee for the United States.
	Establishing a Paralympic Division of the USOC.
	Establishing the U.S. Paralympics organization (a separate organization from the USOC).
	Identifying Paralympic Sports Organizations (PSOs) for each sport contested in the Paralympic Games. Consistent with the intention of the law, NGBs are encouraged to accept responsibility for serving as PSOs.
	Providing logistical support to Paralympic teams through the Games Preparation Division of the USOC.
	Recognizing Paralympic athletes as members of the USOC Athletes Advisory Committee and providing other avenues for input from Paralympic athletes.
	Increasing funding for Paralympic athletes/sports.

The complete text of the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act can be accessed on the USOC web site at http://www.usoc.org. Click on "About the USOC" at the bottom of the home page, then choose "Documents and Public Notices," then choose the "Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act." For further information about the implementation of this law, go to the "Governance" section of this web site.