Agency Reports compiled by Saidu Abubakar
Americans at the just concluded Paris Games hope for some Hollywood glamour at the next Games. All the sporting actions have finished at the Olympics in Paris, and the famous five-ringed flag has been handed on to the 2028 host city, Los Angeles. US citizens who travelled to Paris for this year’s Games told the BBC they have high hopes for 2028.
LA resident Marisa was confident the event would be appropriately sprinkled with local “Hollywood glamour”. But she maintained Paris had set a very high bar. Fellow Americans who spoke to the BBC had concerns Los Angeles would not be able to match France’s impressive public transport network.
With the countdown to LA now under way, here is what is known so far about the next summer Games – which will also mark LA’s first Paralympics.
When and where will events take place?
The athletics events will be hosted in the LA Memorial Coliseum, as they were in 1984 and 1932. The Los Angeles Olympics opening ceremony will take place on 14 July 2028, with the closing ceremony just over two weeks later, on 30 July. The Paralympic opening ceremony will be on 15 August, and the closing event will be on 27 August. In all, more than 50 Olympic and Paralympic sports will be contested across more than 800 events.
The 2028 Games marks the third time LA has hosted the Olympics, and organisers – who have been eager to emphasise their sustainability credentials – have said no new, permanent constructions will be needed for the event. Instead, dozens of existing sites have been earmarked for use, including the home stadium of football team LA Galaxy and the LA Memorial Coliseum, which will host the athletics events as it did in LA’s two previous Olympics.
Perhaps unsurprisingly in a city that is famous for its palm-fringed shoreline, beach volleyball is expected to be hosted on an actual beach – something that was not possible in Paris this year. But some venues will need to be adapted. For example, the SoFi Stadium, as it is currently known, in the suburb of Inglewood, will be converted to host the swimming races, with a resplendent Olympic pool added.
Meanwhile, student housing at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will be turned into the athletes’ village for the summer, and provide training facilities.
From a sustainability perspective, it remains to be seen whether LA can pull off the “car-free” Games it pledged after winning the bid in 2017.
Moving thousands of spectators across the sprawling Californian city poses a huge challenge for organisers – with current hopes for car-free transit pinned on a fleet of buses, after plans for a major rail network upgrade fizzled out, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Nor will it come cheap
The most recent budget forecasts expenditure of nearly $7bn (£5.5bn) on the Games themselves, in addition to any transport upgrades.
Which sports are in – and out?
Paraclimbing will make its debut at the 2028 Games:
In addition to the more familiar Olympic sports, the Los Angeles Games will see a revival of some disciplines not seen for a while, as well as some new additions.
Cricket will be played at the Olympics for the first time since 1900. In LA, we can expect to see tournaments in T20 – a shortened format that sees both teams limited to bowling and batting for no more than 20 overs each. Great Britain will fancy its medal chances, as it has some of the world’s top cricketers
Lacrosse is also making a comeback. Despite being one of the oldest sports to be played in North America, lacrosse has not been played at Olympic level for more than a century. A new format will be introduced in 2028, which will see teams of six using their lacrosse sticks to fire a ball into a goal
Baseball/softball – bat-and-ball sports of a similar type, played by men and women respectively, will also return, having been omitted in Paris in 2024.
Squash is due to make its first appearance at an Olympics after years of campaigning from aficionados
Flag football will also make its Olympic debut. This is a non-contact version of gridiron (American) football, played on a smaller pitch with smaller teams, in which tackles are made by removing a flag from an opponent. It is the fastest-growing variant of the sport in the UK, according to the British American Football Association
There will also be one new Paralympic discipline: Paraclimbing. This challenges athletes in different classifications to scale a 15m (50ft) wall using hand-holds
Certain other Olympic sports that are relatively new to the line-up will continue, including surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing.
But breaking, which debuted at the Paris Games, has not been picked as one of the disciplines – to the disappointment of some, given that this type of street dance was pioneered by the US.
Who will be the sport stars to watch in LA?
France’s Léon Marchand has been a sensation in the pool at Paris 2024:
We can expect to see some of the biggest names from Paris 2024 in Los Angeles, too.
Keely Hodgkinson who stormed to gold in the women’s 800m in France will be 26 come the next Olympics – still in her athletics prime.
One of the breakout stars from this year’s Games has been swimmer Léon Marchand, cheered to four gold medals by the Parisian crowds with cries of “allez!” whenever his head emerged above water.
Marchand, too, will be 26 in 2028, and looks likely to be in LA to fend off any challengers to his Olympic crown in the pool.
The majority of contenders in this year’s skateboarding event will remain in contention for 2028, particularly given the remarkable youth of the athletes in Paris, such as 11-year-old Zheng Haohao of China and Britain’s Sky Brown.
Brown, twice an Olympic bronze medallist, will still only be 20 by the next Games – the question will be whether she skates, or qualifies for surfing next time.
However, the participation of other global stars is less certain. Simone Biles, arguably the most recognisable name at Paris, will be 31. Few gymnasts continue competing into their 30s, but megastar Biles may fancy an Olympics in front of a home crowd, and a bid to add to her 11 medals.
Newly-crowned men’s 100m champion Noah Lyles will also be 31 come LA 2028 – but should still be fit and well primed to emulate US compatriot Carl Lewis in his defence of that most celebrated of Olympic titles.
But there may be a changing of the guard for Team GB. Swimmer Adam Peaty has hinted that Paris was his last Games, and diver Tom Daley only came out of retirement, to win silver in Paris, at his young son’s request.
However, GB rower Helen Glover has not ruled out a fourth Games and a bid for a fourth medal in LA – when she will be 42.
What’s the view from LA?
Achieving a “car-free” games will be one of the city’s biggest challenges
During one lunch break, fans gathered at 3rd Base Sports Bar in Los Angeles to watch the US women’s Olympic basketball team compete in Paris. Loud cheers erupted as soon as the US team walked out on court.
In just four years, many of those sporting events will be held just a few miles away. The excitement here, though, is mixed with concern – and some dread.
The city is no stranger to hosting big-scale events, from the Oscars to the Super Bowl, but it is also well acquainted with the downsides of hosting major spectacles.
LA is also known to have some of the worst traffic in the US, and its poor transit system is bemoaned nationally and internationally. At the time of the bid, it was hoped the Games would force the city to fix some of its transport woes, but the scrapping of plans to extend the train network, and the decision to add a fleet of buses instead, has not thrilled residents.
Nor does it bode well for the millions of tourists the Olympics typically brings to a host city.
“There’s already a lot of traffic every day,” said Cory, while enjoying a burger in the bar. “And then you’re bringing people here who don’t know where they’re going…” Los Angeles also has one of the highest concentrations of homelessness in the US.
Elisha told the BBC she was “hopeful” the 2028 Games might be a catalyst to finally addressing homelessness in the city and finding a long-term solution. The Games will celebrate LA’s dramatic and picturesque coastline and the legendary Hollywood sign that hangs over the city’s skyline, but the West Coast metropolis can’t boast the same extravagant, historic backdrop as Paris.
But while Los Angeles might not offer iconic sites like the Eiffel Tower or the Palace of Versailles, the city has its own charms, Elisha stressed.
“It’s not Paris, but LA has Hollywood – and we can make anything happen in Hollywood.”
What happened at Los Angeles 1984… and 1932
The LA Memorial Coliseum will be used for the opening ceremony, as it was in 1984
The last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics, in 1984, Prince topped the US Billboard singles’ chart and the Games were boycotted by a Cold War-era Soviet Union over commercialisation and security issues.
Great Britain won five gold medals. Among its champions were decathlete Daley Thompson, javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson, a young rower named Steve Redgrave, and 1,500m runner Seb Coe – who went to lead the World Athletics body.
Seb Coe – who later organised the London 2012 Games – was one of Great Britain’s gold medallists in 1984 where America’s Carl Lewis was the superstar of the Games. But the undoubted sporting superstar of Los Angeles 1984 was home talent Carl Lewis, who won gold in the men’s 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay events.
The US dominated the medals table, and – unlike today – was unrivalled by China. Among a number of historic moments, the 1984 Games saw the first women’s Olympic marathon.
That year’s Paralympics were jointly hosted in Stoke Mandeville, England, and New York – marking the final time that a single host city did not host both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The medal podium had its first outing in LA at the 1932 Olympics
The 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles took place under the cloud of the Great Depression, in a California that was much less built-up than it is today.
There was no event equivalent to the modern-day Paralympics.
The Games were significantly shorter than previous editions, and saw fewer competitors than previously. But the crowds are reported to have been huge – including a turnout of approximately100,000 people at the opening ceremony. The year also marked the debut of the now-familiar medals podium.
*Additional production and picture research by Yazmina Garcia