The 2028 Summer Olympics

Some big changes are coming to the Summer Olympics on 2028. NBC News Radio National Correspondent Rory O'Neill joins us with the details. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Olympics are headed to Los Angeles. We got a
little time, but some changes are catching some people's attention.
This is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly Brett, MKITA,
Lawrence Smith and on the liveline with us Rory O'Neil,
NBC News Radio National corresponding, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, Good morning Steve.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
You've never been in the Olympics, right, I just want
to establish this early.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I've been to them, the Games in Salt Lake City,
but I have not participated.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yes, so the word woke is sort of polarizing, but
a lot of people are saying, oh boy, what's going on,
what's catching all this flag?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, there's going to be a bit more feminine flair
at the twenty twenty eight Los Angeles Summer Olympics. For
the first time that we know of the women's event,
the women's one hundred meter track event will be the
first event of the Olympics. Historically, it's always been the
men's one hundred meter track event that goes first. The

(00:55):
men are actually gonna have their competition the next night.
They say, it's all about logistics trying to get in
the first metal event, which is the women's triathlon, So
this is something they're seeing across the board a bit more. Again,
as they said, a feminine flare to the twenty twenty
eight Games.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
This is sort of why they do best supporting actor
at the Oscars. Right off the bat, right, this is
the thing. This is the big, flashy, sexy thing. I
don't know, maybe they're just being polite.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Could be again, they say it's for logistics. We just
got the full list of all the games of exactly
when things are scheduled for twenty twenty eight. And it's
interesting because it's also going to be a record number
of female athletes in the competition. There will be more
female athletes than male competitors in twenty twenty eight. Fifty
point five percent of the total athlete quota allocated to

(01:43):
women in the Games in fifty one different sports.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
You would think that an enormous city like Los Angeles
would have more resources to pull off such things. Talk
to us a little bit about infrastructure and viewing opportunities,
people buying tickets for actual events.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Right Well, you know, it's these games are still in
twenty twenty eight, so it's a little bit early to
make those plans for travel just yet. But you know
that there are going to be fifty one sports across
forty nine different competition venues all across Los Angeles. And
get this, some of the competition is actually being held
in Oklahoma City for some of the events that can't

(02:22):
be hosted there in LA. So it's an interesting mix
of things. I think it's the canoeing and kayaking events
are being held there.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
What do you know about the United States Olympic Committee,
the people that actually help pull something like this together,
and it's leadership.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, I don't know the chair this time around, but
this is a committee that actually sort of works behind
the scenes quite a bit. It's not they don't just
pop up every four years or every two years, I
guess in this case.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
No.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Instead, they are doing a lot of work all year
round in order to either as it comes to protection
of athletes or when it comes to these site selection
committees that are looking at where the next games will
be happening down the road in twenty thirty, twenty thirty
two to thirty four, et cetera. And they really do
have a much full schedule that you'd expect.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Well, we better put in our travel plans if we're
going to get that approved before we all head off
and do live broadcasts first thing in the morning. Would
meet at least a little later for us if we
do broadcast from Los Angeles. So there you go.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, I have to get up a little bit earlier. Actually,
they're going to have the opening ceremonies eight pm Eastern
Time from LA so interesting.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, we'll keep you posted. That's a great low heads up.
Rory O'Neil, NBC News Radio National Correspondent, Thank you, Hey,
Thanks Steve