COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Jan. 24, 2017) – Katie Holloway, a three-time Paralympic Games medalist, has been elected to the United States Olympic Committee Athletes’ Advisory Council (AAC) as its vice chair. The election took place during the council’s quarterly meeting in New Orleans on Jan. 21 and officially announced today by the USOC.
Holloway, who will serve on the six-person leadership group through the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic quadrennial, helped the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team win its first-ever Paralympic Games gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games. The U.S. knocked off top-seeded China 3-0 in the championship match. She had previously won silver medals in the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics, losing to China in both finals.
“I am extremely honored to be chosen by my peers to help impact both the Olympic and Paralympic movement these next four years,” Holloway said. “I look forward to serving athletes in a greater role and seeing the athletes voice thrive.”
“The AAC elected a great group of athletes to serve as its leaders for the 2020 quadrennium,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “I commend these athletes for their willingness to step into important leadership roles and look forward to gaining insight from them during our collaboration over the next four years.”
The overall AAC, which now has 13 Paralympic positions, is responsible for broadening communication between the USOC and active athletes, and serves as a source of input and advice to the organization’s board of directors.
The AAC is led by a leadership group consisting of one chair, two vice chairs and three at-large representatives. The council contains at least one athlete from each Olympic and Pan American Games sport in which the U.S. participates, as well as eight athletes representing Paralympic sport organizations. Athletes on the council must have represented the U.S. in Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American or other major international competition within the last 10 years.
Among her other honors, Holloway has earned silver medals at the 2010 and 2014 World ParaVolley World Championships – both times losing to China in the title match. She was nominated for the 2013 Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year after being selected the Best Spiker at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Holloway was named USA Volleyball’s Female Sitting Athlete of the Year in 2011 and 2012.
Holloway, born with fibular hemimelia in her right leg that was amputated when she was 20 months old, played women’s collegiate basketball prior to joining the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team. She was a four-year athlete at Cal State University-Northridge and is the only woman to compete with a prosthetic limb in the history of NCAA Division I basketball. Holloway was a two-time recipient of the Big West Conference’s Sixth Woman of the Year (2005-06 and 2006-07).