Should Team USA Ditch the Olympic Trials Process?

Dying To Ask: Road to Paris

Team USA will rely on an Olympic Trials process to pick most of its 2024 Summer Olympic Team. But for how much longer?

Some worry it's not sustainable to stage "mini-Olympics" in host cities to select athletes due to rising costs and expectations.

Freelance writer Erin Strout raises the issue in her most recent article for Outside Online where she investigated whether the popular US Olympic Marathon Trials needs a reboot.

You can read the article here.

Americans love Olympic Trials. They're exciting and showcase the depth of underdog talent like marathon record breaker Fiona O'Keeffe. It's like a mini-Olympics with only Americans taking part to determine who will represent Team USA at an Olympics.

But the downside of the Trials process is that they're money losers for a lot of cities.

Most countries rely on selection committees to pick Olympic teams. Would a selection committee have picked Fiona O'Keeffe to represent her country in marathon? Probably not.

On this Dying to Ask:

• Arguments for and against the Olympic Trials process
• What a recent US Olympic Marathon race organizer told Erin about the cost of hosting a Trials and why he says his city couldn't do it again
• Who pays for what at an Olympic Trials? The answer may surprise you