The run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics officially began on Sunday night with a closing ceremony at the Stade de France featuring a “death-defying stunt” by Tom Cruise – who repelled off the stadium to collect the Olympic flag before riding off to LA through the streets of Paris – with performances by California emissaries Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
But for more than a few American athletes, the countdown to LA 2028 began at some point over the past two weeks after their business here in Paris was finished and they began openly weighing their own missions impossible: extending their careers for a chance to compete in an Olympics on home soil when they might otherwise be riding off into the sunset.
Like the rest of the world, the senior members of the US Olympic delegation have watched from front-row seats as Léon Marchand, Teddy Riner, Antoine Dupont and the Brothers Lebrun became figures of national obsession at a Summer Games where even the too-cool-for-school Parisiens couldn’t help but get swept away in the excitement. Their exploits have been unavoidable over the past two weeks even to non-sports fans, their profiles larger by multiples than if they’d chased down glory in Tokyo or Rio.
For someone like Katie Ledecky, making a go for LA 28 would be a case of taking a victory lap before a home crowd. The nine-time Olympic gold medalist, who became the most decorated female US Olympian in any sport last week, is one of many Americans who have gone on record saying they’d love to compete in LA, where the swimming program will take place before a roaring mass of 38,000 spectators at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, by far the largest natatorium in Olympic history. She will be 31 then, but after watching her win the women’s 1500m by more than 10 seconds, it’s hard to doubt she’d be up for the task.
“Seeing the kind of support the French athletes are getting here, I think all of the US athletes are thinking about how cool that could be in Los Angeles, having the home crowd,” she said. “That would be amazing.”
Same for Ryan Crouser, who last week became the first shot putter to win three straight Olympic golds. He will be 35 when the cauldron is lit in Exposition Park, but could he really pass up the opportunity to win a historic fourth at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the 1932 and 1984 Games took place?
“For now, I’m enjoying the moment,” Crouser said. “As an American athlete, to have the opportunity to hang up my shoes on American soil at a home Olympics would be a dream come true. It’s a long ways off. I don’t know how [silver medalist Joe Kovacs] is doing it at 35. I’m feeling it at 31. If I can channel my inner Joe, I would love to go to 2028.”
Having only just become the oldest Olympic gymnastics all-around winner in 72 years, Simone Biles will be 31 when the Los Angeles Games begin. But it’s a good bet that we’ll see her there in some form, perhaps as a specialist, most likely after the same two-year break she took after Rio and Tokyo.
