LOS ANGELES: Prepar­ations to host the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are underway and the city welcomed officials from Paris this week to find out what the “secret sauce” is for delivering a successful Games, LA Mayor Karen Bass has said.

The Paris Games were widely seen as a triumph of planning and execution and set a high bar for LA when it lights the Olympic flame in Southern California in four years’ time.

“What we want to do is dissect what we saw,” Bass told Reuters in an interview at City Hall during the second day of meetings with French officials on Thur­sday. “What I loved about it was the way the whole city was eng­aged. What’s the secret sauce in that?”

Bass got an up-close look at the Paris Games over the summer, touring venues and meeting with officials in the French capital before receiving the Olympic flag at a historic closing ceremony at Stade de France in August.

“It was an incredible experience,” she said. “Now it’s time to get busy.”

Bass is clear-eyed about the challenges that lie ahead for LA, a city as famous for its crushing traffic congestion as its towering palm trees.

“One thing that’s drastically different with LA versus Paris is the size and the density,” she said. “Paris is a smaller area. Our sprawl is one of our advantages, but one of our challenges too. How do you create this sense of Olympic spirit citywide?”

LA also has some cleaning up to do, she said. “The city’s dirty, graffiti everywhere, we’ve got to deal with the homeless issue, all of those issues,” she said. “And you can’t do every street. So where do you prioritise?”

Ensuring that local businesses benefit from the Games and that poorer parts of the country’s second-largest city by population are not left out are top priorities as well, she said.

And the Olympics is not the only major sporting event on the horizon for Los Angeles.

In 2026 the city will host World Cup football, NBA All-Star game and golf’s US Women’s Open, while the Super Bowl returns to LA in 2027.

“I’m viewing each of these activities as practice, preparing for the big one,” she said. “I am absolutely confident,” she said. “Not cocky, but confident.”

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024