As Los Angeles continues its bid for an Olympic Games, they’ve released this video to illustrate where various sports will be played and how the city will host the Games. There will be four sports parks that “highlight LA’s geographic diversity,” which the narrator elaborates on right after. The parks will showcase everything LA has to offer, from the beach, to downtown LA, to the surrounding mountains and valleys.
In terms of transportation between these venues, LA’s vast highway system will be utilized, including “games lanes,” which will assumedly be like carpool lanes but specifically for those traveling between Olympic parks.
The downtown area will have 8 venues hosting a combined 13 Olympic and 13 Paralympic sports. Among these sports are basketball, boxing, Taekwondo, and road cycling. The Staples Center, where the LA Clippers and LA Lakers play during the NBA season, will be hosting basketball.
Notably, USC is playing a part in this downtown venue area, where swimming is to be held at Dedeaux Field; the baseball field will be transformed into an aquatics venue for the Olympics. The plan, per baseball news site Ballpark Digest, is to create a temporary open-air facility where the baseball field is, much like Olympic Trials organizers temporarily transform Omaha’s CenturyLink Center into the nation’s biggest swim meet. Having the racing at Dedeaux will allow for swimmers and divers to train in a different Olympic sized pool, at USC‘s Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
In the valley sports park in the San Fernando Valley and the Sepulveda Basin, 5 Olympic sports and 2 Paralympic sports will be featured. Canoe slalom and various equestrian events will be held here, as well as shooting.
In South Bay, the venues will hold an additional 5 Olympic and 3 Paralympic sports centered around the StubHub stadium. Tennis, hockey, cycling (track), rugby, and more will be contested here.
And finally, we hit the beach. Long Beach will hold 6 Olympic and 1 Paralympic sports. Among the sports there will be open water swimming and water polo, along with sailing.
The Olympic village will be located at UCLA, with training opportunities at UCLA’s many athletic facilities. Besides the already named sports parks and Olympic village, beach volleyball will be held at Santa Monica beach, golf at the Riviera Country Club, and gymnastics at the LA Forum. The Olympic ceremonies will be held at the LA Stadium, which will be the “most modern venue in the National Football League.”
You know what would be nice.. if this got UCLA to re-institute their men’s swimming program….