In a phone interview with the Signal Tribune, Leach described how El Dorado Park in Long Beach was transformed into a place filled with pageantry, flags, athletes focused on being at the top of the game and even the royalty who took up a VIP section near the center of the archery range.
Until she was contacted for this story, Leach wasn’t aware that Long Beach officials hope their city will be a part of the 2024 Olympics, if LA wins the bid for the summer games, but she seemed excited at the prospect to be so close to the events again.
“It was just a real thrill to…be watching those awesome competitors during the games,” Leach said.
The official media release of the Olympic bid made no mention of Long Beach as a possible venue when LA submitted its bid to the International Olympic Committee, but as far as Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia is concerned, that bid is a “template.” Long Beach has been in talks with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office and the LA Olympic Com- mittee even before LA submitted its proposal. Garcia said they are all continuing to discuss Long Beach’s possible role in hosting some of the events.
“It’s not a final plan,” Garcia said in a phone interview late last month when asked about LA 2024’s report on the venue breakdown.
Garcia pointed to his city’s track record at the past Olympic games.
“Long Beach has had a history of hosting certain types of events,” he said, noting that sailing, diving,
archery, beach volleyball and rowing were among the events that he would like to see Long Beach host again. “I think there is opportunity there for us to be involved in them.”
In 1984, El Dorado was the place for archery, and the Long Beach Arena had been the venue for volleyball. Spectators at the Long Beach Convention Center cheered on fencers. Sailors launched from the Long Beach Shoreline Marina.
All of those events have been slated to be hosted in another part of LA County for 2024, according to the LA 2024’s media release.
Garcia acknowledged that LA and the LA Olympic Committee have to go through a series of steps in the next few months, but there won’t be any finalization of a plan for the next six months. He acknowledged that LA still has to be confirmed to be the host city.
Other international destinations are in the running to host the 2024 games. LA still has to be picked over Paris, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg.
Long Beach needs to be ready, and Garcia didn’t divulge any details about which venues in the city are seriously being considered. He said he, Garcetti and the Olympic Committee did discuss what Long Beach would need in terms of infrastructure and how to finance it.
There is the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool that wasn’t used for spectator events during the 1984 games. In the last year, it was demolished, and new designs for the pool area include a diving well. That project is financed by tidelands funds, which are dependent on oil revenues. Construction is set to begin in late 2017, according to the Long Beach Development Department. Whether or not the pool had any part to play in any of the Olympic games is not known. According to the LA 2024’s media release, aquatics and diving events were already slated to be held in temporary facilities at the new LA Football Stadium, which hasn’t been built yet.
Still, the idea of allowing Long Beach to have just a sniffle of the Olympic fever proved tantalizing to Leach, an instructor of beginning archery for CSULB students and seniors.
“So it was just an awesome atmosphere to be around,” she said, reminiscing about her time in 1984. “I personally would liketoseemycitybeapartofthe games.”
