The United States is still buzzing from a successful 2024 Paris Olympics showing, and even more so knowing the next installment of the summer extravaganza is coming back to familiar territory.
Sunday marked the closing ceremony of the Paris games, featuring a preview of Los Angeles’ Olympics endeavor in 2028, with LA Mayor Karen Bass taking the stage in Paris. Locally, an LA28 event in Inglewood’s new Cosm Los Angeles venue featured a viewing party for the closing ceremony and the Olympic flag transfer. Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock was in attendance, noting it was neat to reconnect with old acquaintances and the LA28 team Santa Monica will be working with.
"It was a glorious afternoon filled with executives from LA28 who are charged with making our upcoming Olympics a success," Brock wrote on his Instagram. "We will be the venue for Beach Volleyball and are busy beginning to prepare to make sure Santa Monica shines."
Indeed, the plan remains for the sport to take center stage in Santa Monica, although the beachfront venue was not confirmed by the Los Angeles Olympic Committee last month. Plans call for a temporary 12,000-seat stadium just north of the Pier, with construction likely phasing the closure of Beach Lot 1 North over several months (during construction, games and tear-down periods). Olympic golfing will also be in the area, officially announced as taking place at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.
Before saying au revoir to the Paris games, California finished the two-week endeavor strong, with 47 of the US teams’ 126 medal performers coming from the state. Out of those medals, 15 of which were gold, the most were earned in the sport of water polo (12), with basketball and football also bringing five medals to the Golden State. Los Angeles native Jrue Holiday was instrumental in Team USA once again taking the gold in basketball, serving as the team’s lockdown defender in tight-knit victories over Serbia and France.
Another LA native from the Westside, Pacific Palisades’ Miles Partain, was unable to join the medal group after himself and partner Andy Benesh were ousted in the Men’s Beach Volleyball quarterfinals. After advancing past the Round of 16, the duo were defeated by Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in straight sets by scores of 21-14 and 21-16, with several US errors proving costly.
Paris marks the first time Team USA was unable to earn a beach volleyball medal since the sport was added to the Olympics for the 1996 Atlanta games. Partain, a star at Palisades High, made a name for himself in Paris as the youngest-ever member of the USA unit.
"I think everyone gave their best effort," Partain told USA Volleyball after his experience. "I am pretty confident in that and I am happy we got to represent the US along with the other three teams."
Partain now has his sights set on representing not only his country, but his community, when volleyball comes to the Pier in four years. Another person eyeing the Santa Monica experience is Kerri Walsh Jennings, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball, who told Santa Monica Travel & Tourism that visitors in 2028 should enjoy the "unifier" of sport and take advantage of the city’s locale.
"The Santa Monica lifestyle is beachy, it’s natural, it’s active, and that’s everything that my sport represents … not only is it amazing for beach volleyball, with their three and a half miles of white sandy beaches and Pacific Park and all the fun activities to do off the sand, but now, as someone who’s a mother who just appreciates being active and wants to give my kids the experience … Santa Monica is such a no-brainer," Jennings told Travel & Tourism in a Paris interview.
Other notable sports set to debut or re-debut in 2028 include squash, flag football, cricket (for the first time since 1900) and lacrosse. The Los Angeles stage will also serve as a showcase to huge activities for locals, those being surfing and skateboarding.
thomas@smdp.com
