While medal counts are an important metric, Hirshland said softer metrics such as the overall experience of the athletes, including feelings of fairness, inclusivity, and safety, will also be crucial indicators of success.

"We'll evaluate the extent to which this experience for Team USA athletes feels fair and does it feel inclusive and does it feel safe? And are there measures around sort of that healthy sport culture that we can point to and say, is this going in the right direction as it relates to those things which matter?" Hirshland established.

Hirshland, who just extended her contract with USOPC for another five years, added that the engagement of the American public through viewership and digital metrics will be closely monitored to assess the broader impact of the Games. The goal is to unite Americans around a shared pride in their athletes representing the diversity and values of the country.

"This group of Team USA athletes represents the diversity of our country. I hope everyone in the country can see themselves in one of these athletes and be motivated and inspired by that," the USOPC CEO told interviewer Bob Safian. 

While Hirshland stresses that it is important for the team to maintain cohesion and brand unity, she embraces each Team USA athlete as an individual and celebrates their personal stories and causes —the challenges that they see and the gaps that exist in society. She hopes to bridge individual athletes and the team, and help athletes understand the ramifications of decisions they might be making.

"We are guests at the Olympic Games, just like every other country… when we accept that invitation, we also agree to be guests of that organisation. And we have to abide by the rules and the framework that they set out… our job isn't to tell athletes what they can and can't do. Our job is to help them understand the ramifications of different decisions they might want to make and so they can make informed decisions. And we also want to celebrate who they are as people and what matters to them in the avenues that we have to do that," Hirshland said. 

Hirshland five-year contract extension with USOPC means that she’ll be at the helm when the US hosts the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. USOPC’s first female CEO stressed that the period between Games is critical and there’s no downtime for the organisation, nor its affiliates who need to leverage crucial moments when there are Games, but also figure out how to stay in the conversation and create value and create opportunity in those quieter periods.

"The four-year period between now and LA will be a critical, critical window for us to reinvent how we think about generating resources for Team USA, both philanthropic, which has become an increasingly significant part of our revenue, and also the business community on the commercial side," she stressed. It’s no walk in the park for the athletes either. 

"There's a 365-day-a-year journey that all of these athletes are on, and there are heat moments, and we have to think about sustaining that energy through all of it," Hirshland said.

The CEO said that the organisation will be testing and learning as much as they can in Paris during the Games in preparation to host on home soil. 

"We'll test a million things in Paris across every aspect of the organisation. We don't get the luxury of a cycle of test and learns. We have these four year cycles. So for us, we try to cram a lot of newness into each games and then we have to learn as much as we can and we'll deploy that in Los Angeles. All of that is to say, we'll learn a lot in Paris, but to have a Games on home soil is a completely different animal," Hirshland said.