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LA28 is on, despite the skuttlebutt about the potential cancellation.
From wildfires, a hostile political environment, concerns of unhoused people being displaced, immigration raids, and gang activity, the Games will move ahead. There are the less talked about issues around air pollution, intense traffic, financial pressures, earthquakes, and actors turning into reptiles due to Botox; the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will continue.
The concerns have been aired from various sources. Los Angeles residents are concerned about the city’s emergency response capacity following recent wildfires. Others worry that Olympic development will displace the unhoused or that public funds will be misused. Tokyo, for example, had issues with white collar crime.
Tokyo 2020
Political involvement and disputes surrounding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics included a French investigation into the Japan Olympic Committee head for alleged corruption. There were strained diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea. Also, the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) ban on athlete protests under Rule 50. Concerns over Japanese government policies and human rights issues during the pandemic.
Also, the local community could be displaced due to construction. All of which highlight the complex political landscape of the Games.
Bid corruption
Japanese Olympic Committee head Tsunekazu Takeda was investigated by French authorities for alleged bribery concerning the awarding of the 2020 (2021) Games to Tokyo. Then there was the Japanese bid committee’s payment of €2 million to a Singaporean sports consultancy, which was at the heart of the investigation of improper actions during the bid process.
Geopolitical issues and athlete protests
Japan-South Korea relations went south, as they say. The Olympics occurred amidst a severe diplomatic downturn between Japan and South Korea, fuelled by historical disputes.
There was a ban by the IOC under Rule 50, which was enacted to stop any form of demonstration, whether it be political, religious or racial propaganda in Olympic venues.
However, it was Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia who opened up the conversation about his Oromo people being attacked in the Tigray war in Ethiopia. He took the silver medal in the marathon, and while crossing the finish line, he crossed his arms above his head. A gesture made by the Oromo people, who have suffered brutal police crackdowns. Feyisa is from Oromia, home to most of Ethiopia’s 35 million Oromo people.
A quiet, no-harm-no-foul demonstration should be permitted. For example, multi-medallist in athletics Sifan Hassan, competing for the Netherlands, wore her Ethiopian hijab during the marathon medal ceremony at the 2024 Paris Games. She was quietly protesting against France’s ban on athletes wearing hijabs.
Despite the ban on protests, the IOC Athletes’ Commission consulted with athletes about acceptable forms of expression but ultimately maintained the ban on podium and field-of-play protests.
Soft power
The 2020 Games became a controversial symbol of Japan’s “soft power” strategy, creating tensions between organizers, the government, and Japanese citizens who felt their priorities were secondary to business interests. This is a debate as old as the Olympics themselves.
COVID-19 pandemic and state intervention issues centred around the government seeking to reshape citizen life to ensure the Games were held in a specific, “perfect” form. Shades of Beijing in 2008.
Displaced residents were a core issue. Communities, including elderly residents, were displaced to make way for Olympic infrastructure, a recurring issue in Tokyo since the 1964 Games. The government policies and security and defence that the Japanese government strategically used during the Games bid to advance long-standing political goals, such as allocating more capital for defence and security measures.
Safety first
While Tokyo is a safe big city, and Los Angeles is generally safe, going to the wrong place can be dangerous. The IOC should take its time to expand the Games to areas where safety is an issue. Rio in 2016 was not a good choice.
Criminal activities associated with the 2016 Rio Olympics included widespread violent crime such as muggings, robberies, and the shooting of athletes and journalists. There were deadly shootouts involving drug traffickers and police inside hospitals. The Games were also a period of heightened drug gang activity and police killings of residents in the city’s favelas, which were largely excluded from the Olympic security measures.
The IOC has talked about finding a host in Africa. Attempting to get an African city to host the Games may have to wait. The rate of poverty in most large African cities large enough to host an Olympic Games is high. Therefore, safety is a concern due to violence and political concerns. The Games have become elite and large-scale, and expensive. Some areas in some former host cities are left poor, and some facilities are white elephants.
The facilities from Rio that became white elephants include the Olympic Park and its associated stadiums. They were seen as costly relics with poor planning. Also, the now-disassembled Aquatic Stadium, which was meant to be transformed but saw delays or incomplete legacy planning. Several other venues are empty and have no tenants or income.
LA28 will apparently move ahead as planned
Despite some of the above concerns being repeated from Olympic Games to Olympic Games, the probability of cancellation remains unlikely.
In 2017, when the IOC officially awarded Los Angeles the 2028 Games, city officials, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and city council president Herb Wesson, signed a binding Host City Contract. That agreement commits both the city and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee to deliver the event, while it includes provisions for the IOC to walk away under certain conditions. Meanwhile, it gives the city itself no room for walking away. Breaking that contract would cause severe legal issues.
Now, again, the world is watching.
