USA Olympic chief Sarah Hirshland relishes chance to 'reintroduce' fans to the Olympics after the pandemic-affected Tokyo games... with America's 'most important decade in sport' on the horizon

United States Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland is excited to 'reintroduce' all of America to what a true Olympic Games is after the 'closed games' in Tokyo three years ago. 

Hirshland made the comments on Monday, 103 days before the start of the 2024 Olympics in Paris on July 26. 

It was 123 days before the originally slated beginning of the Tokyo Olympics, and 12 days after the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health pandemic, when the IOC delayed the 2020 Games to July and August 2021. 

The Paris Olympiad is the starting point to what Hirshland referred to as 'The Decade', with the United States likely hosting two Olympic Games over the next 10 years. 

Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, and Salt Lake City is likely to be awarded the Winter Olympics in 2034. 

USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland addresses the crowd at the Team USA Media Summit on Monday

Hirshland spoke about of 'reintroducing' the United States to the Olympics after the pandemic

'I'm most excited that we get to in some ways reintroduce the country to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It's been a minute,' Hirshland said Monday morning at the Team USA Media Summit in New York City.  

'[...] This country hasn't seen as much of (Team USA) over the last few years as we would like, largely due to the pandemic largely due to what was a closed games,' Hirshland continued.

The last Olympics before the pandemic began was the Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018. 

At the Games in Tokyo and Beijing, athletes were heavily seen in masks, and they were mandatory when stepping onto the podium to receive a medal in Tokyo. 

While the height of the COVID-19 pandemic seems long ago, vaccines only became readily available three years ago.  

Gold medal gymnast Suni Lee is pictured wearing a face mask at the pandemic-delayed games

Now, with the world open again, Team USA hopes to take full advantage, as Los Angeles hosts an Olympic Games for the first time since 1984, and Salt Lake City gets its second Olympiad of the century, also hosting the 2002 Games.

'We are affectionately calling it, this is "The Decade". This very well may be the single most important decade in sport in this country,' Hirshland said. 

'And we see a massive obligation and an incredible opportunity for us to showcase, not a single sport, not two sports, but the breadth of sport and what it stands for,' Hirshland added. 

'And what it represents and what an important part of society it can be in the development of humans and in the development of communities.'