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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.
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President Donald Trump speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2026, during an event honoring NCAA collegiate national champions. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg)
“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.
The 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 by curbing “pay-for-play” schemes and ensuring revenue-sharing models preserve, rather than eliminate, non-revenue sports opportunities.
Tuesday’s ceremony came in the same afternoon that Trump extended the ongoing ceasefire with Iran.
“Based on the fact that the government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so, and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social.
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“I have therefore directed our military to continue the blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”
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