Paris Olympics Ends, Los Angeles Prepares for 2028 Games

[snoop1130]

 

The Paris 2024 Olympics successfully ended its 19-day sports event and moved the focus to Los Angeles, the upcoming host for the 2028 Games. The Grand Finale at the Stade de France featured Hollywood star Tom Cruise, with musical performances by Billie Eilish and Snoop Dogg.

 

The Games, which kicked off on July 26, saw about 10,500 athletes from 206 teams participate in 329 events in 32 different sports. The games were held amidst the iconic landmarks of Paris. An impressive 125 Olympic and 32 world records were broken during this course.

 

The closing ceremony on August 11 was a grand affair, filled with cultural performances and a parade of athletes. French President Emmanuel Macron and other important officials attended the ceremony.

 

A significant gesture of handing over the Olympic flag from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to IOC President Thomas Bach, and then to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, marked the shift of venue to Los Angeles. This was accompanied by a preview of the LA28 Games featuring an animated sequence of Tom Cruise skydiving to the Hollywood sign.

 

The United States led the final medal count, followed by China, Japan, and Australia. Thailand also made its mark with one gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. With the Paris 2024 Games ending on a high note, the stage is now set for the Paralympics, which will be held in Paris from August 28 to September 8.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-08-12

 

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[Evil Penevil]

Six optional sports will be featured in the 2028 Olympics in LA:  baseball; softball; cricket; lacrosse; squash; and flag-football, in which flag-pulling replaces tackling. The men and women's cricket tournments will use the Twenty20 format. The U.S. organizers had a short-list of ten possible optional sports, but excluded auto racing, breaking, karate, and kickboxing in their proposal to the International Olympic Committee.

 

The IOC has elevated three of the four optional sports at the Paris Olympics to "core" status, which means the LA organizers must include them.  Those three are skateboarding, surfing and sport (rock) climbing.  The fourth, breaking, will fall away.

 

Among the core sports, boxing may not be included at LA28. It has not yet been listed as a sport for the 2028 Olympics. The IOC banned the International Boxing Association in 2019 due to corruption and total Russian dominance, but no other intl organization has so far been able to replace it.  The IOC itself ran the boxing events in Paris, but has said it won't do that in LA.  A final decision will be made in 2025, but right now it's not looking good for boxing.

 

A number of social media commentators say the U.S. organizers will be happy if boxing is excluded.  The U.S. no longer wins medals in boxing and the organizers want to avoid the huge hassle expected to arise from biological males competing in women's boxing.  Whatever decision is made about who is or isn't a woman, the result will be lawsuits and legal battles in the U.S.

 

Weightlifting and modern pentathlon were also in danger is being dropped, but their international organizations made the changes the IOC wanted.  Weightlifters will be more strictly tested for drugs and the horse-jumping event in modern pentathlon has been replaced  by the competitors themselves running an obstacle course.  In terms of TV viewers, modern pentathlon had been the least popular Olympic sport and the horses had caused big logistical and safety issues.  

[OneManShow]

Not sure if Tom Bradly toilets (nasty) are enough to handle the traffic fot "Olympic" !!! 🤔