LA 2024 today reinforced its pledge to offer unprecedented training opportunities for all National Olympic Committees and National Paralympic Committees in the years leading up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games by capitalizing on Southern California’s unparalleled wealth of elite-level sports facilities. Building on the United States Olympic Committee's ongoing partnerships with NOCs and profiled in LA 2024's stage 3 candidature file, the plan will boost LA 2024’s objective of seeing more nations increase their athlete participation and win more medals at the 2024 Games than at any previous Games.
Should LA be awarded the Games, the LA Organizing Committee would offer NOCs and NPCs a rich menu of university, high school, community, club and other training facilities to choose from. In addition to the world-renowned Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, Southern California alone has more than 75 colleges and universities and 300 high schools with top-class sport facilities, all within 300km of Los Angeles. Southern California boasts in excess of 70 50 meter swimming pools and 200 400m running tracks. The region’s wealth of existing sports infrastructure means that athletes from all nations would be able to train and acclimate ahead of the Games within a maximum three hour drive from Los Angeles.
LA 2024 would build on the US' current role as a training ground for many international athletes; more than 1,000 Olympians from 107 NOCs trained at US universities leading up to the Rio 2016 Games, going on to win 58 medals in 18 sports for their home countries. With three countries winning their first ever Olympic medals at the Rio 2016 Games and nine more their first gold, LA 2024’s unprecedented access to top training facilities promises to build on this success.
LA 2024 CEO Gene Sykes said: "One of my fondest memories of the Rio 2016 Games was watching Fiji’s rugby sevens squad win their nation’s first-ever gold medal. It is our dream at LA 2024 to recreate that sort of thrill for athletes and fans at the 2024 Games, and we intend to do everything we can to provide all nations with everything they need to succeed. Success for all nations at the 2024 Games begins with maximizing access to Southern California’s top-tier training facilities, which is something we can promise because our facilities are abundant, existing and operational today."
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said: "The USOC has been a long term partner to many NOCs around the world by opening up our training facilities and giving access to some of our top sport performance leaders. Hosting the Games in Los Angeles would help us build on this already successful program, expanding it to more nations and allowing for better international relations, while helping help raise the performance level for thousands of underserved athletes around the globe."
The announcement is part of the bid’s #FollowTheSun to Olympic Agenda 2020 campaign: 20 announcements in 20 days to show how LA 2024 will contribute to the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, Olympic Agenda 2020. LA 2024’s plans for NOC and NPC assistance align with Olympic Agenda 2020’s 18th recommendation to strengthen support to athletes and keep the athletes’ experience at the heart of the Games.
LA 2024 Vice Chair and four-time Olympic champion Janet Evans said: "It’s no coincidence that more than 1,000 Olympians and Paralympians choose to live and train in Southern California. In addition to an ideal climate and a culture of healthy living, our region’s long-standing investment in state-of-the-art sports infrastructure provides all athletes with the opportunities they need to succeed at the highest levels. LA 2024 would relish this opportunity to put our infrastructure at the service of the Olympic Movement, and further the visionary Agenda 2020 goal of strengthening support for athletes."
For more information visit LA24.org.
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