Swimming offers the Olympics and LA28 a “massive opportunity” as the foundation behind the second week of action at the Games, according to sports director Pierre Ducrey.
That role is usually associated with athletics, with swimming among the most popular sports in the first week of the Games. Leon Marchand notably ignited an electric atmosphere and home success early on in Paris last year at La Defense Arena.
But in Los Angeles, the hosts will go against tradition after the schedule was revealed, placing track and field in the first week and swimming, a sport dominated by the USA over generations, to provide a thrilling finale, including the iconic relays on the final day of the Games on 30 July, 2028.
“Honestly, for fans, those who travel or watch at home, I don't think it will have a lot of impact,” Ducrey tells the Independent. “The reality is, you know, those are two major sports. Everybody can plan their travel or they're watching from home well in advance, because this has been public now for a few weeks.
“So yeah, I don't believe there will be a major impact, but the reality is, as organizers, when you look at the opportunity to transform your ceremony stadium into a swimming pool,
“I think you cannot turn down this possibility, and that's exactly why this was conducted, where we are going to have a 38,000 capacity pool, and obviously, to have that, we had to flip the two sports in full collaboration with the two federations.
“And we see only opportunities on both sides. So we're very excited with this massive opportunity. Can't wait to see what swimming gives inside the Olympic Stadium, and to have an epic first week will also bring a lot of opportunities. And to your point, it will also give just as many opportunities for the home athletes to shine throughout the Games.”
One of the hallmarks of Paris 2028’s success was the fan engagement both inside and outside the stadia and, despite the sprawling nature of the City of Angels, Ducrey hopes to recreate that engagement in three years.
“One thing that we certainly hope to have also in LA is the fact that the people were in the streets, they were in the venue, and they really were part of the show,” adds the Swiss. “And that's something Paris did fantastically well, the engagement with the population before the games during the games, we really have spectators that made every event at the Olympics and Paralympics, special.
“That's really something that we we feel is important to replicate in Los Angeles, we obviously have amazing venues, historical venues, most modern venues one can think of, but the quality of the show and also, very importantly, for the athletes, we need the spectators to be very engaged, and that's something we certainly hope we can have as well in LA.”
The debut of breaking last year provoked controversy with the evolution of the Games moving away from traditional sports.
And LA28 will be no different, offering a diverse choice for fans with five new disciplines introduced, including squash, the global phenomenon of cricket, and US favourites baseball/softball, flag football and lacrosse. But despite some negative attention surrounding breaking, Ducrey rejects the potential for added pressure for the new sports to deliver.
“I don't think those sports will see that as pressure,” he added. “You know, they will probably see that more as a fantastic opportunity to showcase their sports on the biggest platform there is out there. I had the opportunity to speak with a number of them, and they are very excited to be additional sports to the program, as per the feat they have with the games, as you know or don't, but this is an opportunity we created as part of Olympic agenda in 2020 to give the opportunity for the organizing committees to bring on board sports that makes sense in their context.
“And this list of sports you just went through is very much the fruit of that assessment conducted by the Los Angeles team, in discussion with the IOC, of course, but trying to find what additional pieces they needed to make their games more appealing. And they went for some sports which have lot of following in the in the US at the moment, also for global sport with massive appeal, like cricket, which will make their return to the Olympic Games.
“So I think this combination that they spent a lot of time developing will definitely be a great addition to the Olympic Games, and does give a platform for the organizers to customize a little bit the product to their audience. And at the end of the day, that's also very important that there is this flexibility, as we could see with, for example, character of baseball in Japan, and we are seeing here through the sport you just mentioned. It does bring a unique opportunity to make these games and the games in general, even more special.”
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