Colorado Springs Mayor addresses ‘Olympic City USA’ after KRDO13 report

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Mayor Yemi Mobolade hosted a press briefing today where he addressed 'Olympic City USA' following a KRDO13 report, Olympic City: Identity Crisis.

The reporting focused on some Olympic teams moving their athletes out of Colorado Springs to North Carolina to train.      

At the mayor's monthly news conference, KRDO13 anchor Heather Skold asked him about our reporting but was eventually cut off before all of our questions were answered. 

Mayor Yemi Mobolade says Olympic teams moving where it's best for them is just part of doing business.

KRDO13 has learned that 4 teams now call Charlotte their home base for training. That’s USA archery, USA field hockey, USA judo, and USA taekwondo. Two additional teams that previously trained in Colorado Springs also now train in other states.

KRDO13 has spoken with multiple other teams that are also in talks to move to North Carolina. That's because high-ranking officials on those teams tell us they don't have the resources they need at the U.S. Olympic training center here in Colorado Springs. 

When asked what makes Colorado Springs 'Olympic City USA' since athletes are leaving, Mobalade said the following.

"As I've discussed earlier and here's the thing nonprofits, businesses, residents, people make decisions all the time in terms of where to be, where to live, where to move the business, where best to be. We welcome that."

The mayor touted that tournaments are held here, bringing up to 10,000 athletes here to compete. And that Colorado Springs has the largest concentration of National Governing Bodies, meaning the headquarters and offices are here.

A point of clarification, the headquarters do not equal athletes, here. Many of the Olympic hopefuls telling us, they are unhappy with the training facility here.

The Mayor's full briefing can be watched above.