Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman spoke Saturday about their vision for the 2028 Olympics from a press event in Paris, where they’ve been strategizing their plans for hosting the next Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles has a rich history in being home to some of the world's best athletes, but who was given the honor of taking the Olympic flag on its journey across the city to complete the handoff from Paris to Hollywood?
Here's a breakdown of the three athletes who brought the Olympic flag to L.A.:
Kate Courtney
Courtney, who began the Olympic flags' L.A. journey after Tom Cruise successfully transported the flag from Paris to the Hollywood sign in a sequence that only Hollywood could produce.
The Marin County, Calif., native is a professional mountain biker who has previously won a world championship in 2018 and a world cup series win in 2019. Courtney also competed for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics, where she placed 15th in the women's cross-country event.
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Fun fact: Mountain biking first got its start in the 1970s in Marin County, Calif., with riders biking up Mount Tamalpais.
Michael Johnson
Johnson, who ran with the Olympic flag through the streets of L.A., is a four-time gold medalist and previous world record holder in Track & Field.
After graduating from Baylor University in Texas, Johnson embarked on a historic Olympic career. He first won a gold medal in the men's 4x400m relay in Barcelona in 1992, before becoming the first and only man to win gold in the 200m and 400m individual events in Atlanta in 1996.
In the 200m in 1996, Johnson set a world record with a time of 19.32 seconds, which was only broken by Usain Bolt in 2008.
The Olympic legend again won gold in the men's 400m in Sydney in 2000, solidifying his spot in the upper echelon of men's Olympic Track & Field athletes.
Jagger Eaton
Eaton is one of the biggest stars in skateboarding, a sport that has its beginnings in Los Angeles, and the only Olympian from the Paris Games to be featured in the L.A. journey.
The Arizona native is the first skateboarder to win world championships in both street and park events and has won two Olympic medals for street (bronze in Tokyo and silver in Paris).
