COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Stanford track and field's Sydney Barta will join the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced Wednesday.
Barta will begin her appointment at the council’s annual meeting at the Women Leaders in Sports national convention this fall. With the finalization of the House v. NCAA settlement and the constantly evolving collegiate athletics landscape, the council is focused on its mission to identify and implement strategies that will sustain and grow broad-based sport sponsorship and investment across NCAA Divisions I, II and III. The council’s work is rooted in three priority areas: broad-based advocacy, financial sustainability and audience development.
Barta, the first Paralympian on the Stanford track and field roster and Paralympic representative on the Team USA Athletes’ Commission, brings first-hand experience to the council as a current NCAA student-athlete in USA Track & Field’s Tiered athlete program, a 2024 World Para Athletics Championships silver medalist and a six-time Parapan American Games medalist. Barta, a bioengineering major at Stanford and president of the Stanford Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi, will join the council as a Paralympic athlete representative.
“I'm proud to represent the athlete voice on the Collegiate Advisory Council and help strengthen the pathway from campus to Team USA,” said Barta. “As a current collegiate student-athlete, I'm committed to ensuring that future Olympians and Paralympians are supported, empowered and valued at every stage of their journey.”
The USOPC CAC will convene its first meeting with the new leaders on Oct. 13 in Kansas City.