From Paris to Los Angeles: How a City Is Preparing for the 2028 Olympics

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s Los Angeles’ turn to receive the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at a ceremony in Los Angeles. Paris Closing Ceremony Sunday, before being handed over to a key representative of local Los Angeles business — Tom Cruise – who began the countdown to 2028 in a pre-recorded journey via motorcycle, plane and parachute.

It will become the third city in the world to host the Games three times, adding to the famous years of 1932 and 1984. Here’s a look back and forward in time for the Los Angeles Olympics.

Los Angeles Olympic Trilogy

Los Angeles awarded the 2028 Games As a consolation prize when Paris was chosen to host 2024.

In 1932, Los Angeles hosted its first Olympic Games.The city was the only contender to host the Games at a time when the world was suffering from the Great Depression and many countries were absent. However, memorable sporting moments came from athletes, including American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won gold medals in the new women’s javelin and hurdles events.

It has given financial and cultural success. 1984 The “good” reputation of the Olympic Games has made every major city in the world want to host its own Games.

Focusing on both modernity and classics with a bit of Hollywood input, the Games opened with decathlon champion Rafer Johnson lighting the torch, a man in a jetpack descending into the Memorial Coliseum and the soundtrack of the “Star Wars” maestro. John Williams.

With the Eastern Bloc countries boycotting, the United States dominated the Games. Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton were among the athletes who became household names in the world of sports. A young Michael Jordan led the men’s basketball team to a gold medal.

The Games, for a time, renewed the global reputation of a city that had been seen as in decline.

“We want our Games to be modern, youthful, full of the optimism that Southern California brings to the world and the world,” said Janet Evans, four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and chief sports officer for the Los Angeles 2028 organizing committee. He told the Associated Press In Paris.

Passing the torch

Bass, who returned to Los Angeles on Monday, spent the Games in Paris with organizers and city officials, learning what it takes to host the world’s biggest sporting event.

She was joined by LA28 President Casey Wasserman, an entertainment executive, and Los Angeles Councilwoman Tracy Park, chairwoman of the city’s Olympic Committee.

“As we have seen here in Paris, the Olympic Games are an opportunity to create transformational change,” said Bass. He said in a press conference Before the closing ceremony.

Old and new places plus a swimming pool

With the boom in sports stadiums and arenas, Los Angeles will be polishing existing structures rather than building new ones.

“It’s a game without construction,” Evans said.

after Paris Innovative Opening Ceremony On the Seine, Los Angeles is planning to open SoFi Stadium in neighboring Inglewood, which also includes the century-old Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles itself.

Home to two NFL teams, SoFi has hosted the Super Bowl and numerous other tournaments. Taylor Swift Concerts Since its opening in 2020, it will become what organizers say is Largest Olympic Swimming Venue Not at all. Its role in the opening ceremony means that swimming will come after athletics for the first time since 1972.

The soon-to-open Intuit Dome in Inglewood, home of the NBA’s Clippers, will be the newest major venue for the games and is the planned home of Olympic basketball. The Lakers’ Crypto.com Arena in downtown will host gymnastics.

toxicity swimming in the seine It’s become a serious issue in Paris. And that could lead to renewed focus on the Long Beach waterfront when it hosts marathon swimming and triathlons. Its cleanliness history is mixed, but its surrounding waters received consistently high marks in a 2023 analysis by the nonprofit Heal the Bay.

Long Beach was home to pre-registrations. Shows during Sunday’s event From the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg And Dr. Dre, though it could easily have been confused with Venice Beach in Los Angeles, where the flag ride that Cruise had begun and ended moments earlier was shown.

Trains, buses and traffic

A city known for its difficulty in getting around might seem unsuitable for hosting the Olympics, but it might just work.

Bass said she plans to emulate the tactics of 1984 mayor Tom Bradley, who some said eased traffic better than during non-Olympic times. Those tactics include asking local businesses to stagger their hours to reduce the number of cars on the road and allowing work from home during the 17-day games.

The city’s bid to host the Olympics in 2017 under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti gave it an unusually long time frame for planning.

Although it’s not like the Paris Metro, Los Angeles has built a subway since the last Olympics, with lines running through major venues.

In 2018, the city planned an ambitious series of 28 bus and rail projects to transform public transportation. Some were canceled but others moved forward, including a subway extension to connect downtown Los Angeles to UCLA, the planned home of the Olympic Village.

Another high-profile project is the Englewood People Mover, an automated rail line with three stations that will pass through major Olympic sites. The project initially received a $1 billion federal funding commitment, but opposition from Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters led to a $200 million cut in funding, the Los Angeles Times reported. ReportedIt is unclear whether the line will be completed by 2028.

Metro recently received $900 million in funding through an infrastructure spending package and grants from the Biden administration, $139 million of which will go directly to improving transit by 2028 and the goal of a “car-free” Olympics.

“The biggest challenge is not waiting until 2028, but seizing the opportunity between now and 2028 to help Los Angeles residents and visitors alike reimagine the transit network as their first choice,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins.

Crime, Safety and Perception

Although crime rates were significantly higher in 1984 than they are today, the countdown to 2028 comes at a time when the issue has gained increasing attention and cast an intense shadow on social media.

The Olympics are designated as a Special National Security Event, making the U.S. Secret Service the lead agency charged with developing a security plan, supported by significant federal resources.

Law enforcement authorities in the City and County of Los Angeles have sent officers to Paris to observe, learn and assist as they prepare for their own 2028 Olympic Games.

The number of encampments on the city’s streets is far greater than it was in 1984, and Los Angeles is unlikely to solve its homeless crisis in the next four years. With the Paris Olympics over, California Governor Gavin Newsom Threatens to Withhold Funding From cities unable to clear the camps.

Before the start of the games in Paris, the organizers Thousands of displaced people relocateda practice also used for Rio de Janeiro Games 2016 Activists have criticised it as “social cleansing”.

Tourists and Finance

“Los Angeles is the logical next destination” for the Olympics, said Adam Burke, chairman and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. “Los Angeles has emerged as one of the sports capitals of the world.”

First, the city will host FIFA World Cup Event And the US Women’s Open in 2026 and another Super Bowl in 2027.

The city’s hotel sector has continued to grow, adding 9,000 new hotel rooms over the past four years, with more rooms set to be added over the next four years.

Los Angeles 28 organizers are counting on ticket sales, sponsorships, payments from the International Olympic Committee and other sources of income to cover the $6.9 billion budget for the games. The committee has raised just over $1 billion toward a $2.5 billion goal from domestic corporate sponsorship.

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Associated Press writer Noreen Nasser in Paris contributed.