While the Champs-Elysees and the Seine River are currently completing their final Olympic transformations, the world's premier athletics showcase could have easily been heading to Rodeo Drive and Venice Beach in a week's time.
After a series of withdrawals, Paris and Los Angeles were the only two host cities remaining for the 2024 edition, with Olympic organizers deciding to bring the games to France this year before hosting the 34th Olympiad from the City of Angels in 2028.
"Both cities have really embraced Olympic Agenda 2020 in different ways, but particularly in the way they are planning to use a record number of existing and temporary facilities," International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said in 2017. "This is something we have not seen in this dimension before, and will lead to significant cost reductions in the organization of the Olympic Games and will make the Games more sustainable and more feasible."
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The 2028 Games will provide Los Angeles with an almost unparalleled Olympic pedigree, joining London and Paris as the only three-time Olympic hosts — the British capital was also slated to host the 1944 edition, which was canceled by World War II. This rich tradition is best exemplified by the stunning Art Moderne Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which completed its modern expansion and added its iconic torches ahead of the 1932 games.
Los Angeles would later host the 1984 edition, a historically successful summer for American athletes as 14 Soviet Bloc nations boycotted the event. It was also a uniquely lucrative Olympics, generating a profit of $250 million due in part to the abundance of pre-existing Olympic infrastructure.
However, while just 21 sports featured in the 1984 games, that number has grown to a projected 36 for 2028 — squash and flag football will make their Olympic debuts in Los Angeles, while cricket and lacrosse return for the first time in over a century. It's a relatively new sport that has caused organizers to take an unorthodox and controversial solution as well, announcing that the softball competition will be held in Oklahoma City.
Softball has suffered a turbulent history in the Olympics, first added for Atlanta 1996 but since dropped on two separate occasions in 2012 and 2024. And while the sport was reinstated for the 2028 Games, Los Angeles, which lacks softball infrastructure suitable for the Olympics, renewed its commitment to build no new facilities and shipped the competition 1,200 miles east.
“As good as the games are going to be, as great as the fans are in OKC, it’s not going to be an Olympic experience, which is so special and so rare,” Nicole Mendes, who starred previously for both Mexico and Oklahoma, told The Athletic . “Honestly, it just made me really sad for these softball athletes.” Canoe slalom will also be held in Oklahoma City.
The 2028 Games are slated to begin on July 14, 2028 and close on July 30. The next president of the United States is currently scheduled to deliver the opening address.
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