The LA84 Foundation released its 2026 California Play Equity Report this month; a measure of how far we have come in giving every child access to sport, and how far we still have to go. I had the privilege of serving as president of LA84 for nearly thirty years. The work the Foundation does today still moves me.

In My Olympic Life, I wrote about the early years: "When we started, there were areas where children were using broom handles for baseball bats and a bundle of rags for a soccer ball."

That was nearly forty years ago, and yet in 2026 we are still finding California neighborhoods where the equipment is improvised, the coaches are stretched thin, and the girls are getting fewer minutes on the field than the boys. Sport belongs to everyone... and the most reliable way to make that true is to be honest about who is being left out, then to fund what works.

LA84's research, the new MOVE Fund, and the run-up to the LA28 Games create a once-in-a-generation chance to close those gaps. If you care about youth sport, look up the report; share it with a coach, a parent, a school board member you know.
What sport changed your life? 🏀⚽
--
Excerpted from My Olympic Life by Anita L. DeFrantz with Alayne Merenstein (Cedric D. Fisher & Company Publishers). Find it at AnitaDeFrantz.com or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/My-Olympic-Life-Memoir-1/dp/1736001337/

May is one of my favorite months in rowing. Across the country, youth and collegiate rowers are competing in regional championships, chasing national qualifying times, and learning what it means to push past the point where their bodies tell them to stop. 🚣‍♀️

Next week, the Dad Vail Regatta brings together collegiate programs from across the nation on the Cooper River in New Jersey: the largest collegiate regatta in the United States. Thousands of young athletes will race for their schools, their teammates, and themselves. Some are rowing in their first major competition; others are ending careers that began on middle school docks. All of them are discovering what sport can teach: discipline, teamwork, resilience, and the quiet satisfaction of earning every meter.

When I started rowing at Connecticut College in the early 1970s, I had never picked up an oar in my life. The women's program was barely a program at all. Today, women's rowing offers more NCAA scholarships than nearly any other sport. That transformation happened because generations of athletes refused to let the sport stay small.

To every young rower out there grinding through spring racing season: you are the future. The water doesn't care where you came from or what anyone expects of you. It only asks whether you're willing to pull. Keep rowing. 💪

#Rowing #USRowing #DadVailRegatta #CollegeRowing #YouthRowing #WomensRowing #TitleIX #NextGeneration #StudentAthletes #RowingLife #SheRows #OlympicDreams #SportBelongsToEveryone #RacingSeason #FutureOlympians

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson walked onto Ebbets Field and changed American sport forever. He didn't just break baseball's color barrier; he proved that courage and excellence could open doors that prejudice had sealed shut for generations. ⚾

I think often about what Jackie endured: the hatred from the stands, the hostility from teammates, the daily weight of representing an entire people while simply trying to play the game he loved. He understood something that every barrier-breaker comes to know — you are never playing only for yourself. Every at-bat, every stolen base, every moment of grace under pressure was a message to the next generation: you belong here too.

When I took my seat in a racing shell at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, I carried that same understanding. Sport belongs to everyone; it always has. The work is making that truth visible, one barrier at a time. Jackie Robinson did that work with a dignity that still inspires me today.

Every April 15th, Major League Baseball retires number 42 across every team. But Jackie's legacy isn't confined to a jersey number. It lives in every athlete who walks onto a field where they were once told they didn't belong — and plays anyway. 🙏🏾

#JackieRobinsonDay #42 #JackieRobinson #BreakingBarriers #CivilRights #MLB #BaseballHistory #SportBelongsToEveryone #Trailblazer #LA28

Last month, on March 3, 1976, nineteen Yale oarswomen walked into their athletic director's office, removed their sweats, and revealed "Title IX" written across their bodies. They were cold, they were tired of waiting on buses while the men used the only showers, and they were done being invisible. The next day, their protest was in The New York Times. Within a year, Yale had built them a locker room.

I was training for the Montreal Olympics that spring, preparing to compete in one of the first women's rowing events in Olympic history. The Yale women and I were fighting the same fight on different fronts: them on campus, us on the international stage. Title IX was just four years old, and most institutions were still pretending they hadn't heard of it. 🚣‍♀️

Fifty years later, I look at women's rowing today and see the fruit of that courage. Scholarships, facilities, coaching staffs, national championships. None of it came because someone decided to be generous. It came because athletes like Chris Ernst and her teammates refused to be silent.
Who are the women who opened doors for you? Take a moment to thank them... or to become one yourself. ✊

#TitleIX #YaleRowing #WomensRowing #GenderEquity #WomenInSport #AHeroForDaisy #ChrisErnst #1976 #CollegeAthletics #EqualOpportunity #SportBelongsToEveryone #RowingHistory #WomenAthletes #AthleteRights #TitleIX50

Fifty years ago this summer, I stood on the medal podium in Montreal with my teammates from the women's eight. We had just won bronze... and we had just made history. 1976 was the first year women were allowed to compete in Olympic rowing events. Think about that: the sport had been part of the Games since 1900, yet women had to wait 76 years for our turn on the water. 🥉

Montreal is celebrating the 50th anniversary of those Games throughout 2026, and the rowing community is gathering for MONTRÉAL AVIRON 1976-2026 to honor that milestone. For those of us who were there, it's a chance to remember what it felt like to finally belong on the Olympic stage. For the generations who came after, it's a reminder that the doors we walk through today were opened by those who refused to accept "not yet."

I often think about my teammates and the women from other nations who competed alongside us. We didn't talk much about being pioneers; we were too busy trying to win. The history part became clearer with time. What matters now is that young women can pursue rowing at every level without anyone questioning whether they belong.

If you were in Montreal in 1976, or if you have memories of those Games, I'd love to hear your stories. History lives in the telling. 🇨🇦

#Montreal1976 #OlympicHistory #WomensRowing #TitleIX #OlympicLegacy #USRowing #WomenInSport #OlympicMedalist #Montreal2026 #SheRows #GenderEquity #OlympicMovement #SportBelongsToEveryone #RowingCommunity #50thAnniversary

The flames have been extinguished. For the first time in Olympic Winter Games history, two cauldrons were put out simultaneously: one in Milan, one in Cortina d'Ampezzo. And just like that, the XXV Olympic Winter Games came to a close in one of the most breathtaking settings sport has ever known.

The Closing Ceremony was held at the Arena di Verona; a nearly 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre that was hosting events when the Ancient Olympic Games were still being contested. The last time an ancient monument served as the stage for an Olympic ceremony was Athens in 1896. The theme was "Beauty in Action," and it delivered on that promise: Italian opera, ballet, a celebration of culture that reminded the world why we gather in the first place.
But for me, the beauty was in the numbers.

Nearly 2,900 athletes from 93 countries competed across 116 events. Norway led the medal table with 18 golds and 41 medals overall. The United States earned 33 medals, including 12 golds... our strongest Winter Games performance ever. Italy claimed 30 medals on home soil. Three nations competed at the Winter Games for the first time: Benin, Guinea-Bissau, and the United Arab Emirates. Brazil won its first Winter Olympic medal ever: a gold in Alpine skiing. Ski mountaineering made its Olympic debut, expanding what it means to be a winter sport.

And this was the most gender-balanced Winter Olympics in history. Women made up 47 percent of the athletes. There were 50 women's events on the programme; a record. Twelve of sixteen disciplines achieved full gender parity. When I began advocating for women's inclusion on the IOC Executive Board in the 1990s, these numbers were unimaginable. Now they are the starting line for the next push toward full equality.

These were also Kirsty Coventry's first Games as IOC President. She rose to the moment beautifully: praising the athletes as "brave, fearless, full of heart and passion," honoring the volunteers who brought warmth to every venue, and guiding the handover of the Olympic flag to the French Alps 2030 with grace and vision. I have watched many IOC Presidents navigate the complex demands of hosting an Olympic Games. Kirsty demonstrated that the future of the Olympic movement is in excellent hands....

The Paralympic Winter Games open on March 6, right there in the Verona Arena. Around 665 athletes will compete in 79 events across six sports. The Games are not over; they are simply entering their next chapter.

Sport belongs to everyone. Milano Cortina proved it once again.

#MilanoCortina2026 #ClosingCeremedy #WinterOlympics #OlympicGames #BeautyInAction #VeronaArena #IOC #KirstyCoventry #GenderEquality #WomenInSport #Paralympics #FrenchAlps2030 #OlympicLegacy #SportBelongsToEveryone #TeamUSA #OlympicMovement #ParalympicWinterGames

On February 22, Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the men's ice hockey gold medal at Milano Cortina 2026. It was the first American men's hockey gold since Lake Placid.

1980.

That year lives in my bones. It was the year I was supposed to compete in my second Olympic Games in Moscow. I was in the best shape of my rowing career. Our team was ready. And then our government decided that we would not go; that American athletes would pay the price for a political dispute between nations.

I filed suit against the United States Olympic Committee. I believed then, and I believe now, that athletes have a fundamental right to compete. The courts did not rule in our favor. But the IOC recognized the effort with the Bronze Medal of the Olympic Order, and the principle endured: athletes should never be used as political pawns.

While I was fighting that battle in 1980, a group of young American hockey players were doing something no one thought possible on the ice at Lake Placid. They defeated the Soviet Union and went on to win gold in what the world would call "The Miracle on Ice."

Forty-six years later, in a packed arena in Milan, Jack Hughes scored in overtime to give the United States another men's hockey gold. The women's team did the same thing just days earlier: defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime for their own gold medal. Two overtime victories. Two golden moments. One nation.

Here is what connects these stories across 46 years: the conviction that athletes deserve their moment. That sport, at its finest, produces outcomes no one can predict. That when you let people compete, extraordinary things happen.
The 1980 boycott stole that chance from 461 American athletes, including me. But sport endures. The flame keeps burning. And sometimes... 46 years later... you get your miracle.

~Anita

#TeamUSA #MilanoCortina2026 #IceHockey #MiracleOnIce #OlympicGold #1980Boycott #AthletesRights #WinterOlympics #OlympicHistory #USA #SportBelongsToEveryone #Hockey #OvertimeGold #LakePlacid #OlympicMovement

On February 6, I carried the Olympic flame through the streets of Milan; and then I placed it into the hands of Kirsty Coventry, President of the International Olympic Committee.

I have had many extraordinary moments in my Olympic life. I stood up for athletes' rights in 1980 when it cost me my own chance to compete. I helped plan Olympic Villages in 1984. I served on the IOC Executive Board for many years and was the first woman elected Vice President. But, this moment in Milan was something different; something I had worked toward without fully knowing it.

When I began my work in Olympic governance nearly four decades ago, the idea of a woman leading the IOC was not part of anyone's serious conversation. We were fighting just to be in the room. We were fighting for women's events to be added to the programme. We were fighting for a seat at the table where decisions about sport's future were made.

Now, having a woman President of the IOC is exactly how the world should be.

Kirsty is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a seven-time Olympic medalist in swimming. She understands what it means to push past limits....in the pool and in the boardroom. She is the right leader for this moment: thoughtful, courageous, committed to the athletes.

She said publicly that I "....led the way for female leaders in sports, globally." Those words mean the world to me. But the truth is: we all led the way. Every woman who fought to compete, every woman who insisted on being heard in governance, every woman who refused to accept that sport was not for her.

The Olympic flame is a symbol of continuity. It connects ancient Olympia to every host city, every generation, every athlete who carries the dream of peaceful competition. Handing that flame to Kirsty was not just a personal moment between two women who love sport. It was a symbol of what becomes possible when we refuse to accept limits on who can lead.

Sport belongs to everyone. It always has. Now the world is beginning to understand that leadership in sport does too.

~ Anita

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT HERE:
https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/olympic-torch-relay-emotional-handover-from-women-in-sport-trailblazer-anita-defrantz-to-ioc-president-kirsty-coventry

#OlympicTorchRelay #MilanoCortina2026 #WomenInLeadership #IOC #KirstyCoventry #OlympicFlame #WomenInSport #SportBelongsToEveryone #OlympicMovement #PassingTheTorch #WinterOlympics2026 #GenderEquality #OlympicLegacy

In a few weeks, the Olympic flame will enter San Siro Stadium in Milan for the Opening Ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026.
It will be a night of pageantry, of national anthems, of athletes marching behind their flags. But for those of us who have spent our lives in the Olympic Movement, it will also be something more.

It will be the first Olympic Games under the leadership of Kirsty Coventry.

I have thought often about what this moment represents. Kirsty was a nine-year-old girl in Zimbabwe when she watched the Barcelona Olympics and decided she wanted to compete. She went on to become the most decorated African Olympian in history: seven medals, two gold, across five Games. She chaired the IOC Athletes' Commission. She served as Zimbabwe's Minister of Sport.

And on March 20, 2025, she shattered a ceiling that had stood for 131 years.

The International Olympic Committee, founded in 1894, had been led by nine presidents. All men. Eight Europeans. One American. When Kirsty received 49 votes on the first ballot, she became the first woman and the first African to hold the position.

Now she will preside over her first Games.

The torch has been traveling across Italy since November, carried by 10,001 bearers through 300 towns. On February 6th, it arrives in Milan. And when Kirsty Coventry welcomes the world to these Winter Games, she will do so as a symbol of how far we have come... and a reminder of how much further we can go.

Later this year, Africa will host its first-ever Olympic event: the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. A continent that has produced champions for generations will finally welcome the world to compete on its soil.

As Kirsty said in her New Year's message: "These Games represent so much for Africa. They will inspire the next generation and open doors of opportunity across our continent and beyond."

The Olympic Movement is evolving. And we are watching history unfold.

Milano Cortina 2026. February 6th.