Olympic Museum

Explore the Olympic Experience

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum is the country’s first museum devoted to Team USA. BY REBECCA L. OLGEIRSON

EXPERIENCING THE RUSH THAT COMES FROM entering an Olympic stadium filled with thousands of cheering fans waving the flags of more than 100 countries is something only the most elite athletes can claim. Until now.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs created a multimedia experience designed to allow fans of all ages to feel like an Olympian for a few hours.

“It takes upwards of a decade to make it to the Games, and then comes this moment walking into the stadium and getting that joyful celebratory experience,” says Michelle Dusserre Farrell, vice president of athlete engagement at the USO&P Museum and an Olympic silver medal winner herself as part of the 1984 U.S. gymnastics team. “This event is bigger than any one person, and we worked hard at crafting the exhibit experience to share that moment.”

The USO&P Museum celebrated its grand opening in 2020. The 60,000-square-foot facility contains a vast collection of Olympic memorabilia and the official Team USA Hall of Fame. But the museum also delivers the experience of being an Olympian, emphasizing what it takes for Paralympic and Olympic athletes to simply make it to the Games.

“But we also want to convey to the visitor ‘the grind’—just how hard it is to make the team and make it to the Games,” Dusserre Farrell says.

Colorado Springs, fondly known as “Olympic City, USA” is home to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees and the flagship U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. The effort to build a permanent museum here began in 2013 with an official groundbreaking on the site in 2017.

Critical to the design were accessibility considerations of athletes and visitors. Relying on gently sloping ramps, there’s not a single stair in the museum. “We wanted this to be one of the most accessible museums in the world,” says Tommy Schield, director of communications and marketing at the USO&P Museum.

It’s not just about the stairs, adds Dusserre Farrell, stressing that the experience is the same for visitors regardless of abilities. Her own daughter, a wheelchair basketball athlete at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was born with spina bifida. “Here, the museum experience is the same for everyone,” she says.

And that experience begins with getting “credentials” for the day. Visitors will choose their favorite Olympic and Paralympic athletes and events, which get included in their interactive chip credentials. Then, the displays and exhibitions will sense your interests and tailor your experience.

The visit begins in the Hall of Fame, and from there, the museum will take visitors on their own Olympic journeys. Finally, visitors will pause in the hallway before entering the Olympic stadium and hearing the roar of the crowd.

“This is what it really feels like to be part of Team USA,” says Dusserre Farrell. “It’s an incredibly unique experience the museum has created. It gives me chills just thinking about it.”

.ESSENTIALS. THE U.S. OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC MUSEUM

Located at 200 S. Sierra Madre St., Colorado Springs, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays through Fridays; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is $19.95 for adults, $11.95 for children, and free for ages 2 and younger. The facility is also available for private events. For more information, call (719) 4971234 or visit usopm.org.