By Sally Jenkins, Washington Post
 
Every four years, athletes scrape the grime and graft off of the Olympics, and restore them to magnificence. We should demand that the Jessie Digginses, Red Gerards, John Shusters and Lamoureux sisters become the genuine focus of this country’s Olympic movement. Congress should knock down the U.S. Olympic Committee, get rid of the bilkers who skim cash off the sweat of our greatest competitors and give them little or nothing in return.

The USOC has its nerve taking any credit for a gold medal in USA women’s ice hockey, given that the team had to threaten to strike just to get decent meal money. USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackmun made $1 million in salary and bonuses in 2016. Meanwhile, until last spring, our women’s hockey squad members were paid just $6,000 in an entire four-year cycle. This is a national team that has medaled in every Olympics since 1998, yet not until they staged a boycott were they granted a raise to a living wage. How is this system excusable?

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