By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The USOPC has received “significant reassurances” from the White House on visas for the Los Angeles 2028 Games, Chair Gene Sykes said on Thursday, weeks after an internal memo showed the Trump administration was weighing sweeping travel restrictions.
The memo last month listed 41 countries that could be subject to partial or full visa suspensions, potentially complicating the effort to host the Games, with thousands of athletes, coaches, personnel and tourists expected to travel.
Leadership from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee said that they met with legislators and members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration last week to discuss a wide range of issues around U.S. sport.
“It’s very clear that, from the very top of the administration, they want this to be an incredibly successful experience for all Americans and all of the athletes and visitors who come from frankly every country in the world,” Sykes told reporters.
“They understand what it means to host the Olympic Games, so we were provided with significant reassurances about the work they’re going to do with us to manage the visa process to make this work well for athletes and their appropriate entourages.”
One topic not raised was the issue of visas for qualified transgender athletes, after Trump said he would not allow transgender competitors in the LA28 Games.
Trump signed an executive order in February aimed at excluding transgender girls and women from women’s sports, clashing with international norms.
The IOC has long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Games, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines.
“(We) didn’t discuss the issue and our general discussion on visas is to make sure that we have as much support from the administration, the State Department as we can possibly receive, and the reassurances have been very broad,” Sykes said.
Los Angeles 2028 Olympic officials told Reuters late last year that they were confident the U.S. federal government would deliver on its promise to support the Games.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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