(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Olympic City, USA, is celebrating its fifth anniversary.
“If you want to believe you can do anything, take a walk through here. The stories are inspiring,” said Marisa Wigglesworth, the Chief Executive Officer.
However, the museum holds more than stories. Team USA athletes are at the museum for meet-and-greets a couple of times a month.
“I hope I can inspire these kids to, you know, just chase greatness, and that anything is truly possible as long as they put their mind and their heart to it,” said Jennifer Lozano, a 2024 Olympic boxer, at a meet and greet for the fifth anniversary.
Lozano says her story began when she started getting bullied.
“Because of my accent, and my first language is Spanish. So, English was very hard, and I just got fed up one day, and I want to defend myself. I’m the first boxer in my family, first Olympian for my city, male or female, from any sport,” said Lozano, who is from Laredo, TX.
The museum is currently in the running for USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Attraction for Sports Fans, with voting open online until August 18th.
Despite its impressive offerings, like interactive exhibits and activities, the museum has not met its expected attendance numbers. To address this, the museum plans to update its content more frequently to keep visitors engaged and returning.
“So that we’re always showcasing the latest stories, the latest athletes, and giving our visitors something to see that’s new, when they come back again and again,” said Wigglesworth.
They hope to inspire our future with a trip through the past.
“You know, you can feel the energy in here, and just seeing everybody’s stories like Serena Williams, Claressa Shields, all these other great athletes who have who have done it, you know, way back in the eighties, way back in the nineties. It’s crazy, you know, that they’ve been doing this for years, and just being here is like…I’m one of them,” said Lozano, “But, you know, it’s been a long journey, it’s been a lot of ups and downs. It hasn’t been perfect. It hasn’t been all, you know, high. I had to lose a lot, but it was definitely worth every second of it, and if I could do it again, I really would.”
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