Not sure why this jump. The discussion was Harvard and admissions. The jump to giant Uni’s and athletic GPA’s isn’t the same. Of course these giant schools have room for athletes with lower GPAs. They make a lot of money on their sports programs and they don’t have 1,700 kids in a year but maybe 17,000 or 30,000.
Seems like the scholar-athlete is going to Harvard and the athlete who has just decent academic ability and great athletic ability is likely going to some of the schools you mention. Very different thing.