From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics

From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics
Members of LA28, local government officials and US Olympic athletes pose with the official Olympic flag as it returns to Los Angeles for the first time in 40 years, in Los Angeles, California, on Monday. (Reuters)
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Updated 13 August 2024
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From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics

From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics
  • The city will become the third in the world to host the Games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984
  • Financial and cultural success gave 1984 a reputation as the “good” Olympics” which made seemingly every major world city want their own

LOS ANGELES: It’s Los Angeles’ turn for the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at the Paris closing ceremony Sunday, before handing it off to a key representative of LA’s local business — Tom Cruise — who in a pre-recorded trek via motorcycle, plane and parachute kicked off the countdown to 2028.

The city will become the third in the world to host the Games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here’s a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA.

LA’s Olympic trilogy

Los Angeles got the 2028 Games as a consolation prize when Paris was picked for 2024.

Back in 1932, LA hosted its first Olympics. The city was the only bidder for the Games at a time marred by the Great Depression and the absence of several nations. Yet memorable sport moments came from athletes including American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won golds in the new women’s events of javelin and hurdles.

Financial and cultural success gave 1984 a reputation as the “good” Olympics” which made seemingly every major world city want their own.

Emphasizing both the modern and the classical with a hand from Hollywood, the Games opened with decathlon champion Rafer Johnson lighting the torch, a guy in a jetpack descending into the Memorial Coliseum and theme music by “Star Wars” maestro John Williams.

With Eastern Bloc countries boycotting, the US dominated. Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton are among the athletes who became household names. A young Michael Jordan led the men’s basketball team to gold.

The Games renewed, for a while, the global reputation of a city that had been perceived to be in decline.

“We want our games to be a modern games, youthful, full of the optimism that Southern California brings to the world and the globe,” Janet Evans, four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and chief athlete officer for the LA 2028 organizing committee, told The Associated Press in Paris.

Passing the torch

Bass, who returned to LA Monday, said one of the biggest takeaways was the way Paris organizers made the “Olympics for everyone, whether you participated in the Games or not.”

She gave examples of watch parties held in surrounding cities and breakdancing classes before the competitions.

Joining her were LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman, an entertainment executive, and LA council member Traci Park, chair of the city Olympic committee.

City council president Paul Krekorian, who joined Bass in bringing the Olympic flag to LA, said they were “going to make this the only city in the world who have ever had three financially successful Olympic Games.”

Venues old and new, plus a swimming stadium

Amid a stadium-and-arena boom, LA will polish existing structures rather than erect new ones.

“It’s a no-build Games,” Evans said.

After Paris’ innovative opening ceremony on the Seine River, LA plans to open with a traditional, stadium-based approach at SoFi Stadium in neighboring Inglewood that also incorporates the century-old Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles itself.

Home to two NFL teams, SoFi has hosted a Super Bowl and several Taylor Swift concerts since opening in 2020. It will become what organizers say is the largest Olympic swimming venue ever. Its opening ceremony role means swimming will come after track and field for the first time since 1972.

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

The toxicity of swimming in the Seine became a serious issue in Paris. That could put renewed focus on the Long Beach area waterfront when it hosts marathon swimming and triathlon races. Its cleanliness history is mixed but its ocean waters got consistently high marks in a 2023 analysis by nonprofit Heal the Bay.

The Long Beach shore was home to the pre-recorded performances during Sunday’s ceremony of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, though it was easy to mistake for LA’s Venice Beach, where the journey of the flag begun by Cruise was shown ending moments earlier.

Trains, buses and traffic

A city that’s notoriously hard to traverse may seem like an odd fit for the Olympics, but it can work.

Bass said she plans to emulate the tactics of Tom Bradley, the mayor in 1984, whose traffic mitigations had some saying it was better than at non-Olympic times. They include asking local businesses to stagger workforce hours to reduce the number of cars on the road and allow work from home during the 17-day games.

Landing the Olympics under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017 gave the city an unusually long lead time for planning.

While it’s no Paris Metro, LA has built a subway since its last Olympics, with lines running past major venues.

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

Another high-profile project is the Inglewood People Mover, an automated, three-stop rail line past major Olympic venues. It initially received a commitment of $1 billion in federal funding, but opposition from Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters led to a $200 million reduction, the Los Angeles Times reported. It’s 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, of which $139 million will go directly toward improving transportation by 2028 and the goal of a “car-free” Olympics.

“The biggest challenge is not waiting to 2028, but really taking the opportunity between now and 2028 to help Angelenos and visitors alike reimagine the transportation network as something that will be their first choice,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said.

Crime, safety and perception

While crime rates were considerably higher in 1984 than today, the countdown to 2028 comes as the issue has gotten increased attention and cast a social-media-amplified shadow.

The Olympics are designated as a national special security event, which makes the US Secret Service the lead agency tasked with developing a security plan, supported by significant federal resources.

LA city and county law enforcement sent officers to Paris to observe, learn and assist as they prepare for their own 2028 games.

There are many more encampments on city streets than there were in 1984, and it’s unlikely LA will have solved its homeless crisis in the next four years. As the Paris games ended, California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to withhold funding from cities unable to clear encampments.

Ahead of the Games in Paris, organizers relocated thousands of unhoused people, a practice also used for the 2016 Rio de Janiero games and criticized by activists as “social cleansing.”

Tourists and finances

LA is the “next logical destination” for the Olympics, said Adam Burke, president and CEO of the LA Tourism and Convention Board. “LA has emerged as really one of the world’s sports capitals.”

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

The city’s hotel industry has continued to see growth, adding 9,000 new hotel rooms in the past four years with more to come over the next four.

LA28 organizers are banking on ticket sales, sponsorships, payments from the International Olympic Committee and other revenue streams to cover the Games’ $6.9 billion budget. The committee has brought in just over $1 billion toward a goal of $2.5 billion in domestic corporate sponsorships.


Boxing stars Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois face off at Tower Bridge in London

Boxing stars Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois face off at Tower Bridge in London
Updated 31 sec ago
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Boxing stars Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois face off at Tower Bridge in London

Boxing stars Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois face off at Tower Bridge in London
  • Dubois currently holds the IBF belt, but Joshua will be looking to become a three-time world champion in the division

LONDON: Fans got their first glimpse of two of the biggest names in boxing four days ahead of the highly anticipated Riyadh Season Card Wembley Edition fight between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois on Monday.

Joshua and Dubois faced off for the first time at a media event held near the iconic London landmark of Tower Bridge.

It was the first event in a week of build-up for a night of boxing at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, where the two British boxers will fight it out for the International Boxing Federation heavyweight title.

Dubois currently holds the belt, but Joshua will be looking to become a three-time world champion in the division.

The event is the first Riyadh Season boxing event to be held in the UK and the second time outside Saudi Arabia following the success of the first event in Los Angeles in August.

Also on Monday, Anthony Cacace and Josh Warrington faced off, who are set to fight for the IBF super featherweight title.

Fans also got to see Joshua Buatsi and Willie Hutchinson, who will compete for the World Boxing Organization interim light heavyweight title, face off.

They also saw Tyler Denny who fights Hamzah Sheeraz, Mark Chamberlain who takes on Josh Padley, and a face-off between Josh Kelly and Ismael Davis, who stepped in to replace Liam Smith after Smith sustained an injury.


Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final

Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final
Updated 16 September 2024
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Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final

Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final
  • “Something big is coming,” Neuer told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s opening clash with Dinamo Zagreb at home
  • “The most important thing is the final in Munich. We want to go there and everything else is secondary”

BERLIN: Bayern captain Manuel Neuer said Monday his side were fully focused on the Champions League season, with this year’s final to be held at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
“Something big is coming,” Neuer told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s opening clash with Dinamo Zagreb at home.
“The most important thing is the final in Munich. We want to go there and everything else is secondary.
“We know what this final means to the city, the fans and the players. Our motivation is simply very high.”
Six-time European champions Bayern come into the season after their first trophyless campaign in 11 seasons, with Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen winning a league and cup double.
In the Champions League, Bayern were eliminated in the semifinals by eventual winners Real Madrid, who beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley to lift the trophy.
Neuer and fellow Bayern veteran Thomas Mueller, who both won the 2013 and 2020 Champions League finals, are the only two players in the squad to remember the 2012 home final, which they lost on penalties to Premier League side Chelsea.
Mueller went on social media on Monday, telling followers “the road to Munich starts tomorrow.
“I’m very excited. Let’s enjoy the best football in Europe.”
Manager Vincent Kompany, set to coach his first match in the Champions League, told reporters “the fans can dream.”
“The most important thing for me is that we show it on the pitch. We have a difficult game tomorrow. The important thing is that we play well and win tomorrow.”
Bayern have won every one of their Champions League openers since 2002 when they lost 3-2 to Deportivo La Coruna, which was the prelude to their first and only group stage elimination.


European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63

European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63
Updated 16 September 2024
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European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63

European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63
  • The forward died after recently going into hospital following a head injury suffered in a fall
  • “Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away,” a statement said

LONDON: Former Aston Villa striker Gary Shaw, who helped the club to their shock European Cup triumph in 1982, died on Monday aged 63.
Shaw was a member of the Villa side that won the First Division title in 1981 and then memorably stunned German giants Bayern Munich in the European Cup final 12 months later.
The forward died after recently going into hospital following a head injury suffered in a fall.
“Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away,” a statement said.
“Gary was one of our own, a talented striker who delighted supporters with his goalscoring exploits which helped fire Villa to success in the 1980s. Individual accolades would also follow for a player who was idolized by many on the terraces.


“He passed away peacefully earlier today surrounded by his family, who asked Aston Villa to release a statement on their behalf.”
Shaw’s death came on the eve of Villa’s first match in the Champions League for 41 years.
Unai Emery’s side face Young Boys in Switzerland on Tuesday and the Villa manager urged his team to win the match in tribute to Shaw.
“My condolences to the family and all the supporters at Villa,” said Emery, whose team will wear black armbands for the fixture in Bern.
“We have a memory always, in our training ground a picture of 1982 and the European Cup. He was a protagonist of that. My condolences to them.
“Yes, I think it’s sad and we can use it as motivation.”
Shaw joined Villa as an apprentice and went on to score 79 times in 213 appearances, including 20 goals in their 1981 title-winning campaign.
He was named PFA Young Player of the Year after Villa’s first English title since 1910.
Shaw scored three goals in Villa’s run to European Cup glory, including a crucial quarter-final strike against Dynamo Kiev.
Peter Withe’s winner against Bayern in Rotterdam lifted the team to previously unimaginable heights, with Birmingham-born Shaw savouring the triumph more than most.
Yet within a year of Villa’s epic victory, Shaw suffered a knee injury in a match against Nottingham Forest that curtailed his progress and ultimately saw him retire from the game after six operations.
He left the club in 1988 for spells in Denmark and Austria, before ending his career in 1992 after short stints at Walsall, Kilmarnock and Shrewsbury.
Shaw later worked as a statistical analyst and a matchday ambassador for Villa.


Tunisia's Jabeur to miss rest of year with injury

Tunisia's Jabeur to miss rest of year with injury
Updated 16 September 2024
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Tunisia's Jabeur to miss rest of year with injury

Tunisia's Jabeur to miss rest of year with injury
  • Jabeur missed the recent US Open due to the injury

PARIS: Ons Jabeur will miss the rest of the 2024 WTA season with a shoulder injury, the Tunisian announced on Monday.
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up has struggled for form and fitness this year, slipping to 22nd in the world rankings.
Jabeur missed the recent US Open due to the injury and has not played since a heavy defeat by Naomi Osaka in Toronto in early August.
“This year has been extremely hard for me and as athletes, we know that recovery is part of the journey,” she said on social media.
“Due to my ongoing shoulder injury, my medical team and I’ve made the difficult decision to step off the tennis circuit for the rest of the season.”
The 30-year-old said she would be back on court for the start of the 2025 campaign in Australia.


Simba say goalkeeper attacked after CAF Cup match in Libya

Simba say goalkeeper attacked after CAF Cup match in Libya
Updated 16 September 2024
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Simba say goalkeeper attacked after CAF Cup match in Libya

Simba say goalkeeper attacked after CAF Cup match in Libya
  • “It was scary. I saw Aishi being struck for no reason by a policeman and bottles and other objects hurled at our players,” said the official
  • “Aishi is shaken but okay. He is receiving treatment in the changing room“

JOHANNESBURG: Aishi Manula, the goalkeeper of Tanzanian club Simba, was struck by a policeman after a stormy CAF Confederation Cup qualifier in Libya on Sunday, an official from the visiting team told AFP.
The second round, first leg against Al Ahly Tripoli ended 0-0 in a packed 45,000-seat Tripoli stadium and Simba players dashed for cover at full-time as plastic bottles were flung at them.
“It was scary. I saw Aishi being struck for no reason by a policeman and bottles and other objects hurled at our players,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
“Aishi is shaken but okay. He is receiving treatment in the changing room. I also witnessed some Ahly players attacking the referee and his assistants.”
Both clubs are regular CAF competition campaigners with Ahly making a ninth appearance in the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League and Simba a seventh.
Simba are considered potential title challengers in the Confederation Cup, which has been dominated by north African clubs with 16 titles from 21 editions.
Zamalek of Egypt are the current title-holders after edging Renaissance Berkane of Morocco on away goals in the last final.
South African coach Fadlu Davids recently took charge of the Dar es Salaam outfit after being assistant coach of Moroccan league and cup double winners Raja Casablanca last season.
Another first leg in Libya produced a thriller with Al Hilal Benghazi snatching a 3-2 victory over Al Masry of Egypt after trailing twice in the eastern city.
Salah Mohsen put Masry ahead in each half, but two goals from Mohammed al Shiteewi, either side of one from Faisal al Badri, set up an intriguing September 22 return match in Alexandria.
Dynamos of Zimbabwe look set to reach the group stage for the first time, at the third attempt, after a 1-0 win over Orapa United of Botswana in Francistown.
But the most popular club in the southern Africa nation left it late to build an aggregate lead as Valentine Kadonzvo scored with just two minutes of regular time remaining.
Zimbabwe have no international-standard stadium so Dynamos must play Orapa twice in neighboring Botswana.
Burundi outfit Rukinzo are in a similar situation to Dynamos with no suitable venue in the landlocked central African nation.
They opted to face record three-time Confederation Cup winners CS Sfaxien twice in Tunisia, and did well to restrict the home side to a 1-0 win through an early Mohamed ‘Cristo’ Dhaoui goal.