The District of Columbia Olympic Committee was launched in 2005 as an effort to call attention to Washington, D.C.'s lack of voting rights in the U.S. Congress.
The District of Columbia, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while part of the United States, each only have one, nonvoting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, unlike those other American territories, D.C. lacks its own "National" Olympic Committee.
In late 2005, a group of D.C. residents, headed by Mike Panetta, launched the DC Olympic Committee (DCOC) with their first team, curling. Started with D.C. voting rights in mind, this advocacy group seeks to gain recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an official member.
In 2008, the sport chosen was racewalking.
The DCOC asks the public to visit their website and send a letter to the IOC asking them to recognize rights of DC citizens to form their own Olympic committee.
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