By Liu Mei, Gao Shan
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially announced that Paris will hold the 2024 Olympic Games and gave 2028 to Los Angeles on Wednesday, Angelinos celebrated the exciting and historic moment by recalling the city's past Olympic history and by looking ahead at its future.
It is, of course, not the first time for Los Angeles to host an Olympics, but it has been more than a generation, some 33 years, since the 1984 L.A. Olympic Games.
Posting a picture on Facebook of her serving as a volunteer in 1984, teacher Alice Mah says she is excited to witness the historic moment in her home city for the second time in her life.
"I was very honored to serve as an Asian volunteer at the 1984 Olympics...even though I cannot be a volunteer again in 2028, I am still delighted it will happen in Los Angeles, my home, once again," Mah said.
Teams from 140 countries and regions took part in the 1984 Olympic Games, which broke several U.S. Olympic attendance records, with emotional crowds filled to capacity at most venues.
"As a UCS student, it's really exciting that our campus is just next door. Los Angeles is one of the media cities of the world, we have Hollywood here, which means there will be more celebrities at the Games. We do have a lot of traffic here, which is also what I am worried about," local student Andrea Friedman told Xinhua.
"My biggest expectation for the 2028 Games is that the LA government can get more public transportation, and other than that, [I would like] to be able to go to one of the games," Friedman added.
American gymnast and 2008 Olympic individual all-around champion, Nastia Liukin also expressed her excitement for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
"I am super excited, since I wasn't born in 1984, but I heard it was such a successful Olympics, and some of my gymnastic inspirations came from that Olympics. So now I am glad that LA will hold another Olympic Games, hope it can inspire even more people," Liukin told Xinhua on Wednesday.
When recalling the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in which she competed, Liukin had high praise. "As soon as we touched down at the Olympic Village, everything was perfect. For me, the Beijing Olympic Games was a kind of fairytale," she said.
Nearly 50 iconic locations across Los Angeles including Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Bowl, City Hall, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Long Beach Harbor Lighthouse and the Rose Bowl among others will be illuminated Wednesday night in the colors of LA's dramatic sunsets with the LA 2028 logo to mark the return of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the City of Angels.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson, L.A. 2028 leaders, Olympians and Paralympians will lead the L.A . County Fair's "Celebrate '28" parade in honor of the IOC' s selection of L.A. as the Host City of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"This is a momentous day for the people of Los Angeles and the United States. For the first time in a generation, we are bringing the Games back to the City of Angels," said Garcetti in a press release for LA 2028 on Wednesday.
"L.A. loves the Olympics because the Games have lifted up our city twice before. But to us the Games have always represented an even brighter future and the chance to harness the power of sport and the Olympic Movement again to inspire the next generation - for the next 11 years and beyond," he added.
But others are not so optimistic about the awarding of 2028 to L.A., citing the budget overruns that have plagued previous editions of the Olympics.
"It seems L.A. got a great deal from the IOC for holding the 2028 Games, since we can have an extra 300 million U.S dollars, but there are too many uncertainties ahead in the next 11 years. So far in history, not a single Olympic Games has been accomplished within the budget. The 2020 Tokyo Games has already exceeded the budget three times. I just hope that L.A won't exceed it too much and that our taxpayers won't pay for it," John Zhang, the Doctor of public relations of Claremont University, told Xinhua.
(This story was edited by Spencer Musick)
