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≡ LA28 IN GRIFFITH PARK ≡
One of the icons of Los Angeles is Griffith Park, a giant 3,015-acre gift of mining magnate Griffith J. Griffith and his wife in 1896.
Now it will be a featured venue of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, as the LA28 organizers announced Tuesday that the cycling road races will all finish there:
● Olympic road races: Start at Venice Beach and finish at the Griffith Park Observatory
● Olympic Time Trials: Start at the Los Angeles Zoo – inside Griffith Park – and finish at the Observatory.
● Paralympic road races (road races, time trials, mixed relay): Start and finish at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Larger than both New York’s Central Park and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, much of Griffith Park has remained undeveloped. But it includes a number of L.A.-area icons:
● Griffith Observatory: Griffith himself had the idea for this facility and helped to fund it before his death in 1919. It was opened in 1935 and has been a magnet for attention ever since thanks to its scientific standing and its historic Art Deco design.
● Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens: The third zoo in the park’s history, replacing the Griffith Park Zoo (opened 1912) in 1966, on land originally used for the Griffith Park Aerodrome!
Within the park’s perimeter are also the L.A.-area icon ”Hollywood” sign erected in 1923 on Mt. Lee as an advertisement for a land development, the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, the Greek Theater, Travel Town Museum, golf courses and many hiking trails and other features.
While Griffith Park itself will be a fascinating venue for the cyclists, it will be a dream-come-true for Olympic broadcasters, with unlimited picturesque sites to choose from. The actual race routes are still to be announced.
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LA28 also announced the finish for the Paralympic Games marathon course, with the start previously confirmed for Venice Beach, also to be used for the Olympic marathons. For 2028, the Paralympic marathon route will finish in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The route is also to be announced later.
The Olympic marathons are to start at Venice Beach, but the finish area has not be announced (or the route). Traditionally, the marathons have finished in the track & field stadium, but this has not been the case since the 2008 Beijing Games. Since then, the marathons have finished at The Mall in central London in 2012; the Sambodromo in Rio (2016) and at Les Invalides in Paris in 2024. Trying to avoid the heat, the Tokyo 2020 marathons were moved to Sapporo.
For 2028, the track and field competitions will be held during the first week of the Olympic Games and finish on 24; the marathons will be run on 29-30 July.
Still to be confirmed are the route for the half marathon race walks, to be held on 27 July.
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