The Paris Games have concluded, the Olympic flame that was suspended in a cauldron above the Tuileries Gardens has been extinguished, and the Olympic flag has been handed over to Los Angeles for the 2028 Games.
A mere 1,432 days away, the Los Angeles Olympics will begin on July 14, 2028, and run until July 30. The Paralympic Games will start on August 15 and end on August 27.
What can we expect from the Los Angeles Olympic Games?
Where will the events take place?
Los Angeles has already hosted two Olympics, in 1932 and 1984, leaving enough infrastructure so that no new permanent venues will be built for 2028, and athletes will be housed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), instead of an Olympic Village built for this purpose.
While it is still unclear exactly where each sport will take place in Los Angeles, organizers have already announced some of their major venues.
The arches of the LA Memorial Coliseum will preside over the Olympics, becoming the first stadium to host three Olympic opening ceremonies and athletics competitions. The Arena in downtown Los Angeles, normally home to the LA Lakers and LA Sparks basketball teams, will transform into a gymnastics venue, while the beautiful 1932 pool at Exposition Park, built for the Olympics of that year, will host diving.
Organizers are planning to hold swimming events in a temporary pool at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, typically used for NFL games. With such a large capacity, the stadium will accommodate 38,000 spectators, even with a 50-meter pool inside, making it the largest Olympic swimming venue of all time.
Several kilometers of the Los Angeles coastline will also be used as Olympic venues – the Long Beach Waterfront will host the open water marathon and triathlon, while sailing will take place at Belmont Shore in Long Beach.
Will the Los Angeles Games really be “car-free”?
On Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reiterated her goal of hosting a “car-free” Olympics, which, given that Los Angeles is widely known as the traffic capital of the world, raised some eyebrows.
Bass told reporters that the city will use 3,000 buses borrowed from across the United States, encourage remote work during the games to reduce traffic, and invest in the public transportation system to achieve this goal.
What new sports will be on the program?
Sports like surfing, climbing, and skateboarding have proven to be popular additions to the Olympics in recent years, injecting new energy into the Games.
Five new sports will be added to the Olympic program in Los Angeles – flag football, baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse, and squash.
Which sports are leaving the Olympics?
Breaking was a highly anticipated new sport in Paris, and it went viral when Australian b-girl Raygun produced a performance that became a meme on social media, but it has already been removed from the Olympic program.
The decision was made before breaking made its debut in Paris, and it will not return to the Olympics, at least for now.
The final event program will be finalized between now and the first quarter of 2025, according to the IOC.
Source: CNN