President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. “won’t have an Olympic team anymore,” if not for regulation on the NCAA to address dwindling resources for certain non-revenue college sports in the U.S.Trump gave the warning at a White House ceremony honoring several recent NCAA champions in non-revenue sports.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM”75% of Olympians competing for Team USA played as college athletes. If we don’t straighten out this, we’re not going to have much of an Olympic team because you have so many of these sports, especially certain sports where it’s like the minor leagues — you could call it the major leagues; you could call it whatever you want — but we train unbelievable athletes to go in and win the gold medal,” Trump said Tuesday.”Without college sports, without your ability to go into college sports and compete and learn really how to play and get better, we’re not going to have much of an Olympic team anymore.”Approximately 75% of U.S. Olympians have a collegiate background, competing in NCAA, NAIA, or junior college programs, per the NCAA. For the 2024 Paris Olympics, 65% of the U.S. roster consisted of current or former NCAA student-athletes. Key sports with high collegiate representation include swimming (96%), rowing (95%), and track and field.Trump made the comments while honoring the NCAA champion Youngstown State bowling, Oklahoma State men’s golf, Texas A&M women’s volleyball, Wake Forest men’s tennis, Georgia women’s tennis, West Virginia mixed rifle and Florida State women’s soccer teams.Trump even made a rare admission of a skill he is not so good at during the White House ceremony.Trump, while honoring the Youngstown State bowling champions, confessed that he’s not a great bowler.”It’s not easy bowling. I’ve tried it. It doesn’t work too well for me. It’s very difficult, actually. It’s very difficult,” Trump said.OLYMPIC LEGEND WHO GAVE ORDER OF IKKOS MEDAL TO TRUMP OPENS UP ABOUT ALIGNING WITH MAGA AND POLITICAL BACKLASHThe ceremony gave a spotlight to the nonrevenue college sports that Trump seeks to preserve with his recent executive order, titled “Urgent National Action to Save College Sports.”Since NIL payments were legalized for college athlete in 2021, new business methods employed by universities to stay competitive in revenue sports has introduced significant financial strain on non-revenue college sports like swimming, tennis, track, often forcing universities to cut programs due to budget reallocation toward football and basketball.Trump has taken executive action to mandate that revenue-sharing models implemented by universities must preserve or expand scholarships and opportunities for women’s and Olympic sports, dating back to last year with a similar executive order.Last July, Trump signed an executive order, “Saving College Sports,” aimed at stabilizing NCAA athletics amid rising NIL costs. The order aimed to protect Olympic and women’s sports from funding cuts
Trump warns US ‘won’t have much of an Olympic team anymore’ without new college sports regulations
