The name change will be visible in Colorado Springs soon, with several buildings getting new signs including the now-Olympic and Paralympic Training Center and the under-construction U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum.

The leaders’ focus on their new name brought cheers from Andrew Parsons, chairman of the International Paralympic Committee. The change makes America the fourth nation to merge their Olympic and Paralympic teams. America is by far the largest of those nations and has the loudest voice on the world stage, Parsons said.

“This is a historic moment not only for the U.S., but for the entire Olympic and Paralympic movement,” he said

The name change comes on the heels of a measure offered this week by U.S. Rep Diana DeGette, D-Denver, that would empower a blue-ribbon panel to recommend other structural changes for the federally chartered committee. The organization remains mired in a scandal sparked by sexual assaults in gymnastics and subsequent revelations from athletes in other sports.

“I appreciate the efforts of Congress,” Hirshland said in reaction to the legislation.

DeGette slammed the Olympic Committee’s efforts to reform itself after revelations last fall that leaders knew that a USA Gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar, was preying on athletes and did nothing to stop him.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who sentenced Nassar to up to 175 years in prison, was one of the backers of DeGette’s bill. The judge appeared at the congresswoman’s news conference on the measure Monday in Denver.

“Athletes cannot thrive in a broken system that values money and medals over the safety of athletes,” Aquilina said Monday.

Hirshland said the Olympic Committee is pushing ahead with changes, including support for the independent Denver nonprofit SafeSport, which is empowered to police sexual misconduct.

But, with more lawsuits filed and reports of sexual assault piling higher, Hirshland admitted the work is far from over.

“We have work to do and we are committed to doing it,” she said.

Hirshland and Susanne Lyons, chairwoman of the Olympic Committee’s board, said putting Paralympic athletes on par with Olympians is also a key reform.

“Paralympic athletes are integral to the make-up of Team USA,” Hirshland said.

Lyons said adding Paralympic to the committee’s name is a step toward “fostering a cultural awareness and changing the organization from the top.”

Lyons, though, hinted that larger changes are in store for how the Olympic Committee operates.

An advisory panel examining how the committee oversees nearly 50 national governing bodies that control individual Olympic sports is due out next month, she said. The committee also is examining changes that could give athletes more say in how the organization operates, she said.

“We’re beginning to gain alignment on a clear path forward for structural reform,” Lyons said.