Olympics-USOPC anticipating participation surge in US from LA28, 2034 Games

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee expects ​two domestic Games in the span of ​six years will prompt a ‌surge of ​interest in Olympic sport, CEO Sarah Hirshland said on Friday, with LA28 around the corner and Salt Lake City due to ‌host in 2034. The Atlanta Games in 1996 preceded a double-digit uptick in participation in some Olympic sports in the US, Hirshland told reporters, expecting a similar boost when the country hosts for ‌the first time since Salt Lake City had the 2002 Winter Games.

"We've had a number ‌of conversations here with our respective national governing bodies this week about how to think about the participation interest that we anticipate on the backs of the LA28 games as a result of the data points that ⁠we have ​both anecdotal and sort ⁠of factual around the impact of the '96 Games 30 years ago," said Hirshland. "The work that our teams are doing ⁠now ... is to think about how do we ensure that in a world where social media is ​prevalent and information flows so much more freely than it did back in 1996."

The ⁠USOPC has poured efforts into social media over the last two Games in Paris and Milano Cortina, as the ⁠International ​Olympic Committee relaxed rules around what athletes can post at the Olympics. Hirshland said she anticipated that the LA28 Games and Salt Lake City in 2034 could prompt an interest in ⁠more niche Olympic sports at college level, where the country's more traditional pastimes like American ⁠football still dominate the ⁠landscape.

"That would be absolutely a victory from our perspective. We have to have the schools prepared to accept that interest and be able to ‌support it," ‌she said.