- Title: Olympians celebrate as Los Angeles awarded the 2028 Games
- Date: 13th September 2017
- Summary: RUSSIAN-AMERICAN GOLD MEDALIST, GYMNAST NASTIA LIUKIN, SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST GYMNAST NASTIA LIUKIN, SAYING: "I'm very excited, I'm definitely proud and honored to be able to be a part of this journey with Los Angeles and to be able to bring an Olympic Games back here to LA. I wasn't alive for the '84 Olympic Games but what I hear and the stories and the videos, it was an incredible Games. And then of course Mary Lou Retton wining that gold medal here in gymnastics here in Los Angeles inspired me to do the same in 2008 so I'm absolutely thrilled." LIUKIN DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST GYMNAST NASTIA LIUKIN, SAYING: "To be honest I think they'll be ready in a few years, not even 2024 because so many of the venues are already ready. When you think about the athletes' village its UCLA, the media village is USC and you look at these incredible stadiums and arenas and fields of play and they're basically ready so you know I don't think the year necessarily matters, I think Los Angeles and everybody is very excited to be able to bring back the Olympic Games here." VARIOUS OF FORMER OLYMPIC SWIMMER JOHN MOFFET SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLYMPIAN JOHN MOFFET, SAYING: "Well I mean I think it's very easy to say 'oh man I wish it was seven years rather than 11' but if you look at the benefits that will come out of that.. Like I said before, our leaders were able to create a deal that they were able to get more money to host 2028 than for 2024 so it is a great deal for the city of Los Angeles, it's a great deal for the organizers and it's a great deal for the children of Los Angeles who will be a big beneficiary of up to 160 million dollars that will be funneled towards youth sports here in this area. It gives us extra time to for example really make an amazing event for the athletes which I think will translate into an amazing event for the people here coming to celebrate." VIEW OF COLISEUM STADIUM
- Embargoed: 27th September 2017 22:03
- Keywords: Olympics Los Angeles 2028 John Nader Nastia Liukin John Moffet Los Angeles Coliseum
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Olympics,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0046YFM3WF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Decorated U.S. Olympians, including gold medalists John Naber and Nastia Liukin, turned out in Los Angeles on Wednesday (September 13) to celebrate Los Angeles being awarded the 2028 Games.
Paris was also awarded the 2024 Summer Olympics as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) broke with decades of tradition to vote on a unique double allocation.
Paris, which has hosted two previous Olympics, will stage the event 100 years after its last Games in 1924 while Los Angeles will also organize its third Games after 1932 and 1984.
IOC President Thomas Bach embraced both cities' mayors on stage after a unanimous show of hands by IOC members ratified the awards.
The IOC decided in July to award both Games at the same time, following the withdrawal of four of the six cities bidding for the 2024 Olympics, amid concerns about the size, cost and complexity of organizing the world's biggest multi-sports event.
Los Angeles then dropped its bid for the 2024 Olympics, for which it had been campaigning for over two years, in return for receiving the 2028 edition. This paved the way for Paris as the sole 2024 bidder to win the Games unopposed. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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