Reminiscing About the 84 L.A. Olympics -- Media Watch

The Los Angeles Daily Newsask readers, "Do you want L.A. to host the 2024 Olympics?"Some readers reminisce about "golden memories" from the 1984 Games, while others predict the city will not receive the same pay-off:

"The 1984 Olympic Games saw corporate sponsorship,"Carlos B. Trevino from San Pedro, Californiawrites, "but how many of those corporations exist today? I urge our city’s representatives to not act in haste and to make a responsible economic choice for its citizens."

Olympic gold medalist Dean Lukin tells Radio Australia he now"prefers the quiet life."Lukin won gold inin the Superheavyweight weightlifting competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Tuesday markedthe 30th anniversary of Joan Benoit Samuelson’s victory in the inaugural Olympic women’s marathon.New York Times writer Karen Crouse reports that the following day,swimming showed how true equality for women in sport is still a long ways away.

"Forty-six years after the 800 was added to the women’s Olympic program," Crouse writes, "swimming’s math is stuck in the 1960s: 800 meters + women = 1,500 + men."

"Mixed Legacy" for Olympic Games

The Associated Press says that10 years later, the Athens Olympic Games has left a "mixed legacy."Olympians and economists weigh in on the impact of the 2004 Olympics. The Games are widely considered to have contributed to Greece's recent economic collapse and Olympic venues are crumbling.

Vancouver Suncolumnist Barbara Yaffe writes that the2010 Winter Olympics is yielding "delayed benefits" in British Columbiam the province where Vancouver is located.Yaffe says anew report by the B.C. Business Council "points to a serious slump" in the industry between 2002 and 2009, and gives "considerable credit to the Games for the fact a tourism upswing is now underway."

Professor Jules Boykoff writes in The New York Timessays theOlympic Movement is "descending into a slow-motion crisis", and a new outlook must be adopted to entice bid cities.

In Other News

Billboard's Judy-Cantor Navas explores how Brazil plans to use its controversial stadiums from the 2014 FIFA World Cup toexpand its ability to host major concerts.

Reuters News Agencywriter Ed Cropely examines the "possible improbabilities" in the murder trial of Olympian and Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius.

Horse Talk's Neil Clarkson discusses what Princess Haya's departure from the International Equestrian Federation means for horsesport.

Olympic sailorMorgan Reeser tells Scuttlebutt Sailing News that the Olympic sailing administration "needs a reboot."

Compiled byNicole Bennett

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