If there was any doubt about whether the Paris Olympics changed the way people think about the presentation of the Summer Games, they went away Monday when the leader of World Athletics said his organization was considering holding some track and field competitions outside of a traditional stadium at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
For years, Sebastian Coe has been resistant to the idea of taking a competition outside of the Olympic track stadium, which is usually an 80,000-seat facility and the biggest and grandest venue at any Olympic Games.
In previous conversations, he has argued that it would diminish a once-in-a-lifetime moment for an athlete if organizers took an event like the pole vault or the long jump or the shot put out of the Olympic stadium and put it in a smaller, more intimate venue.
On Monday though, Coe acknowledged that World Athletics, the sport’s international governing body, and organizers of the Los Angeles Games have discussed putting some of those events in a non-traditional setting.
“We’re looking at out-of-stadium opportunities, and I know LA28 are very encouraging of that,” Coe said during a conference call with journalists.
Casey Wasserman, the chairman of LA28, confirmed an agreement to explore possibilities.
Indeed, organizers in Los Angeles have been pressing World Athletics for years to consider concepts outside the stadium. They have not named potential locations, but the idea is to make the Olympic Games more accessible to more people.
The Paris Games received rave reviews for pulling off that feat at nearly every opportunity. Beach volleyball took place at the Eiffel Tower. There was swimming in the Seine, fencing at the Grand Palais and breaking and skateboarding near Place de la Concorde. Track and field took place entirely at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside the northeast border of the city.
The Los Angeles Games won’t be that. Unlike Paris, the region is home to some of the world’s top arenas and stadiums, and organizers will make full use of them. But Paris changed the equation and showed the world that holding competitions within the beating heart of a city was a winning formula.
“I like the idea because it takes our sport to where people are, and you know, we should be brave,” Coe said.
Track and field has some experience with this. Brussels, Belgium, has put on a shot put competition at the Grand Place. Zurich, Switzerland, has held athletics competitions around its opera house.
Coe said he had held discussions about doing something outside the stadium with officials in Paris, but he was told that the organization was short on money.
“L.A. are very much more open to it,” he said.
Related reading
(Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
