PARIS (AP) — The Paris Olympics will hand over the baton to Los Angeles 2028 at the closing ceremony on Sunday. And much will be different in four years.
New sports will make their Olympic debut, selected by the organisers, who will also bring back others that left the programme more than 100 years ago.
While Paris showed the Seine River, Los Angeles will have the Pacific Ocean and its beaches.
The incomparable historic buildings of Paris provided a cinematic look, while the streets of Los Angeles will showcase a living history of film and television.
What sports will be included in the Los Angeles Olympics?
Flag football, squash and obstacle courses. Yes, American Ninja Warrior-style obstacle courses to replace horses and liven up the modern pentathlon.
Flag football is a good choice for the Los Angeles organizers, who told IOC members last year that the sport represents “the future and the spearhead for the international growth of American football.”
Squash will join tennis and badminton as racquet sports at the Games. Could padel or pickleball one day follow suit?
Squash has been rejected in the past and, like flag football, is now heading to Los Angeles with no guarantee of staying for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
What will the Los Angeles Olympics be like?
There is no river in Los Angeles that can match Paris’s parade of athletes along the Seine, although two stadiums will be used instead of one: both the SoFi Stadium and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Paris Olympics often looked amazing on screen. Los Angeles practically invented the modern look of film and television and is a creative hub for music and fashion.
The message here for Los Angeles is: don’t try to copy Paris.
“Paris is the most beautiful city in the world,” admitted LA 2028 President Casey Wasserman. “The 2028 Games will be authentically Los Angeles.”
IOC Olympic broadcasting director Yiannis Exarchos said Los Angeles “cannot remake a city (Paris) with a 500-year history. Los Angeles speaks of the future, of new frontiers, of technology.”
Events like marathons and cycling can show “where a lot of the mythology of the 20th century has been created, thanks to Hollywood,” Exarchos said in an interview.
