From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's Los Angeles' turn for the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at the Paris closing ceremony Sunday, before handing it off to a key representative of LA's local business — Tom Cruise — who in a pre-recorded trek via motorcycle, plane and parachute kicked off the countdown to 2028.

The city will become the third in the world to host the games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here's a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA.

Los Angeles got the 2028 games as a consolation prize when Paris was picked for 2024.

Back in 1932, LA hosted its first Olympics. The city was the only bidder for the games at a time marred by the Great Depression and the absence of several nations. Yet memorable sport moments came from athletes including American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won golds in the new women's events of javelin and hurdles.

Financial and cultural success gave 1984 a reputation as the “good” Olympics" which made seemingly every major world city want their own.

Emphasizing both the modern and the classical with a hand from Hollywood, the games opened with decathlon champion Rafer Johnson lighting the torch, a guy in a jetpack descending into the Memorial Coliseum and theme music by “Star Wars” maestro John Williams.

With Eastern Bloc countries boycotting, the U.S. dominated. Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton are among the athletes who became household names. A young Michael Jordan led the men's basketball team to gold.

The games renewed, for a while, the global reputation of a city that had been perceived to be in decline.

“We want our games to be a modern games, youthful, full of the optimism that Southern California brings to the world and the globe,” Janet Evans, four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and chief athlete officer for the LA 2028 organizing committee, told The Associated Press in Paris.

Bass, who returned to LA Monday, said one of the biggest takeaways was the way Paris organizers made the "Olympics for everyone, whether you participated in the games or not.”

She gave examples of watch parties held in surrounding cities and breakdancing classes before the competitions.

Joining her were LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman, an entertainment executive, and LA councilmember Traci Park, chair of the city Olympic committee.

City council president Paul Krekorian, who joined Bass in bringing the Olympic flag to LA, said they were "going to make this the only city in the world who have ever had three financially successful Olympic Games.”

Amid a stadium-and-arena boom, LA will polish existing structures rather than erect new ones.

“It's a no-build games,” Evans said.

After Paris' innovative opening ceremony on the Seine River, LA plans to open with a traditional, stadium-based approach at SoFi Stadium in neighboring Inglewood that also incorporates the century-old Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles itself.

Home to two NFL teams, SoFi has hosted a Super Bowl and several Taylor Swift concerts since opening in 2020. It will become what organizers say is the largest Olympic swimming venue ever. Its opening ceremony role means swimming will come after track and field for the first time since 1972.

Intuit Dome, the soon-to-open Inglewood home of the NBA's Clippers, would be the games' newest major venue and is the planned home for Olympic basketball. The Lakers' downtown Crypto.com Arena will host gymnastics.

The toxicity of swimming in the Seine became a serious issue in Paris. That could put renewed focus on the Long Beach area waterfront when it hosts marathon swimming and triathlon races. Its cleanliness history is mixed but its ocean waters got consistently high marks in a 2023 analysis by nonprofit Heal the Bay.

The Long Beach shore was home to the pre-recorded performances during Sunday's ceremony of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, though it was easy to mistake for LA's Venice Beach, where the journey of the flag begun by Cruise was shown ending moments earlier.

A city that's notoriously hard to traverse may seem like an odd fit for the Olympics, but it can work.

Bass said she plans to emulate the tactics of Tom Bradley, the mayor in 1984, whose traffic mitigations had some saying it was better than at non-Olympic times. They include asking local businesses to stagger workforce hours to reduce the number of cars on the road and allow work from home during the 17-day games.

Landing the Olympics under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017 gave the city an unusually long lead time for planning.

While it's no Paris Metro, LA has built a subway since its last Olympics, with lines running past major venues.

In 2018, the city planned an ambitious slate of 28 bus and rail projects to transform public transit. Some were scrapped but others moved forward, including the extension of a subway line to connect downtown Los Angeles with UCLA, the planned home of the Olympic Village.

Another high-profile project is the Inglewood People Mover, an automated, three-stop rail line past major Olympic venues. It initially received a commitment of $1 billion in federal funding, but opposition from Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters led to a $200 million reduction, the Los Angeles Times reported. It’s unclear whether the line will be completed by 2028.

Metro recently received $900 million in funding through an infrastructure spending package and grants from the Biden administration, of which $139 million will go directly toward improving transportation by 2028 and the goal of a “car-free” Olympics.

“The biggest challenge is not waiting to 2028, but really taking the opportunity between now and 2028 to help Angelenos and visitors alike reimagine the transportation network as something that will be their first choice,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said.

While crime rates were considerably higher in 1984 than today, the countdown to 2028 comes as the issue has gotten increased attention and cast a social-media-amplified shadow.

The Olympics are designated as a national special security event, which makes the U.S. Secret Service the lead agency tasked with developing a security plan, supported by significant federal resources.

LA city and county law enforcement sent officers to Paris to observe, learn and assist as they prepare for their own 2028 games.

There are many more encampments on city streets than there were in 1984, and it's unlikely LA will have solved its homeless crisis in the next four years. As the Paris games ended, California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to withhold funding from cities unable to clear encampments.

Ahead of the Games in Paris, organizers relocated thousands of unhoused people, a practice also used for the 2016 Rio de Janiero games and criticized by activists as “social cleansing.”

LA is the “next logical destination” for the Olympics, said Adam Burke, president and CEO of the LA Tourism and Convention Board. “LA has emerged as really one of the world’s sports capitals.”

First though, the city will host a FIFA World Cup event and U.S. Women's Open in 2026 and another Super Bowl in 2027.

The city's hotel industry has continued to see growth, adding 9,000 new hotel rooms in the past four years with more to come over the next four.

LA28 organizers are banking on ticket sales, sponsorships, payments from the International Olympic Committee and other revenue streams to cover the games' $6.9 billion budget. The committee has brought in just over $1 billion toward a goal of $2.5 billion in domestic corporate sponsorships.

Associated Press Writer Noreen Nassir contributed from Paris.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and his wife, first partner Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, front, welcome Team USA Olympians returning with the official Olympic flag at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman, in on far left, with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

California Gov. Gavin Newson, fourth from left, welcomes Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, fifth from right, and LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman, fourth from right, and members of Team USA Olympians, including skateboarder Tate Carew, third from right, diver Delaney Schnell, second from right, and volleyball player Micah Ma'a, right, at Los Angeles International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

From front left to right, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and his wife first partner Jennifer Siebel-Newsom welcome Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman and Team USA Olympians, behind from left to right, skateboarder Tate Carew, volleyball player Micah Ma'a and diver Delaney Schnell at Los Angeles International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, holds the official Olympic flag, next to LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman, right, and Team USA Oympian skateboarder Tate Carew, center, at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds the official Olympic flag at Los Angeles International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds up the Olympic flag, with LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman, right, and members of Team USA athletes at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Team USA athletes, LA28 organizing committee members and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), Delta executives and special guests take a picture with the official Olympic flag at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds the official Olympic flag returning to Los Angeles at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, welcomes Team USA athletes arriving with the official Olympic flag returning to Los Angeles at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

FILE - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a reception at the U.S. Chief of Mission Residence in Paris, Saturday, July 27, 2024, to commemorate the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics and celebrate the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games, to be held in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - This aerial view shows traffic moving along the 110 Freeway past the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 5, 2023. Los Angeles will host its third Olympic Games in 2028. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Cheerleaders and players stand for the American national anthem at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., before an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

FILE - An LA 2028 sign is seen in front of the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass hands the Olympic flag to United States' gymnast Simone Biles during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass waves the Olympic flat as IOC President Thomas Bach applauds during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Tom Cruise takes the Olympic flag from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, as Simone Biles watches during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Tom Cruise greets Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Tom Cruise rides a motorbike during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Tom Cruise rides a motorbike with the Olympic flag attached during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Tom Cruise carries the Olympic flag during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding more than 2,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

The AR-924 pagers used by the militants were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.

At about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday after the sabotage attack. It could receive text messages of up to 100 characters.

It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That’s something that would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common as the tiny nation on the Mediterranean Sea has faced years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

For Hezbollah, the militants also looked at the pagers as a means to counteract what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks throughout the country.

“The phone that we have in our hands — I do not have a phone in my hand — is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.

He later added: “I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.”

Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)

Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)