BTI Events, the organization responsible for Team USA travel and participation in the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China, will now support the USA Swim Team in one of the world’s largest sporting events. However, due to political reasons, historically, USA Swimming has sponsored, managed, and supported the American team but declined to do so this year. This led to an independence movement to form a team of American college students and coaches, with 32 players announced last week. These trips are fully self-financed and are expected to cost thousands of dollars for each athlete.
To help with the financing, some athletes have opened personal GoFundMe accounts to accept donations. SwimSwam reached out to one of the team’s coaches, Ian Quinn, Team USA’s Director of Swimming, to find out how to donate. Anna Karandadze, Madison Morse, Christian Bart, and Carrie Dickinson are among those who have already received financial support.
BTI Events provided information on how to donate to the entire team and ensured that all donations, excluding a 3% credit card fee, would be used directly to cover coaches’ and players’ travel expenses. For donations under $250 (not tax deductible), donors should include their name, enter “USA Swim Team WUGs” in the “Reason for Payment” section, select swimming as their sport, fill in their email, specify the amount they would like to donate, and enter their payment information.
Donors can also mail a check drawn on the USIUSF made payable to Lori Thomas and sent to 10829 Barton St., Overland Park, KS 66210. For donations over $250 (for tax deductible purposes), donors should send an email to [email protected] The email address helps process USIUSF’s 501c donations, enabling donors to receive tax deductions for their donations to nonprofits.