O visas are supposed to be temporary work visas for performers and athletes. They are also occasionally used for paid guest lecturers at Universities or corporations.
They are not supposed to be for run-of-the-mill IT workers, and the Trump Administration had better not allow this abuse of the O visa program to happen.
I think you are only partially right. There are a few types of O visas and they don't necessarily have to have anything to do with performers or athletes..... it can be related to medicine, physics, engineering, education or other vocations. The criterion is just that the person is recognized internationally as being an expert in his/her field and can provide evidence of that expertise.