08/12/2024
PARIS — So, Los Angeles, how do you top that?
With the spectacular 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris now concluded, the global spotlight shifts to a familiar host: Los Angeles, America’s Olympic city, for the 2028 Games.
L.A. will become only the third city in history to host the Olympics three times, welcoming the Summer Games from July 14 to July 30, 2028. The city first hosted in 1932 and again in 1984, when Los Angeles stepped in as the savior of the Games, hosting when no other city or nation wanted to. That event turned a huge profit, funneling millions into youth sports in the city, and sparked a 40-year era of Olympic success. With such an impressive Olympic legacy, Los Angeles is undaunted by the challenge of following the majestic spectacle Paris offered the world over the past 17 days.
“Our job is to be the most authentically spectacular Games for L.A., not to try and out-Paris Paris in L.A.,” said Casey Wasserman, president of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, in an interview. “One of the reasons Paris has been so successful is that they’ve been authentically French in every regard, and that’s why it works. L.A. is a different city, and we have to deliver what you would expect from a big event in L.A.”
In other words: Hollywood glamour, beaches, the ocean, mountains, sunshine, celebrities—everything that defines the city’s unique charm.
This isn’t the first time such a “can you top this” conversation has occurred. After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there was similar concern about how London could possibly follow the grandeur of China’s Games in 2012. Yet, London delivered a spectacular and memorable event by staying true to its own identity, just as L.A. plans to do in 2028.
