A lot has been happening in the Olympic world, so on this episode of the podcast, we’re bringing you all the latest news.
LA 2028 made a big splashy announcement about its torch relay, saying that it would start in Atlanta and travel to all 50 states. This would be the first time a U.S. host city would have a torch relay that did visit every state in the country. The concept of a torch relay didn’t exist for Lake Placid 1932 or LA 1932. The 1960 Winter Olympic torch relay was contained in California. Lake Placid 1980 visited six states, plus Washington D.C. LA 1984 went to 33, plus Washington D.C. Atlanta 1996 covered 42 states, plus Washington D.C. Salt Lake City 2002 managed to visit 46 states, plus the Capitol.
Where will the torch travel this time? We’re not completely sure, but we’ve uncovered some of the cities around the country that have approved proposals to work with LA28 in their city councils. List to the episode for who we’ve found so far!
We also have more hospitality house news for LA28, including where Caribbean House will be located and other houses that are in the works. Plus, the City of LA announced where its fan viewing sites will be located.
Alpes 2030 released a shocking new budget for hosting the Games. Also, skating athlete quotas have been adjusted to account for Synchro9’s addition. Plus, a new event and some updates on Nordic combined.
Brisbane 2032’s emblem release was spoiled, but we now have a logo for these Games. We take a look at the cockatoo-inspired emblem and see how it stands up to other logos. Plus, archery and rowing are vying to add events. What could be on the Brisbane 2032 sports program?
Brisbane 2032 Olympic emblem. Credit: Brisbane 2032.
Brisbane 2032 Paralympic emblem. Credit: Brisbane 2032.
The International Olympic Committee announced the timeline for selecting the host city for the 2036 Games. They also unveiled the National Olympic Committees that are curently in the running to host, and it’s an interesting mix of old and new.
Jill will be speaking on the next edition of Torched Talks, Alissa Walker’s virtual series about megaevents in Los Angeles. It takes place on Monday, October 19 at noon PT on Zoom and is free. Please join us!
If you liked this episode, be sure to check out these:
Get more great stories in our free weekly newsletter!
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
449-Where will the LA28 Olympic torch relay travel
Theme Music
Jill Jaracz: Hello, and welcome to [00:00:30] another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you love the games, we are the show for you. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello. How are you?
Alison Brown: I am doing okay. I’m doing a little bit better than you.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, I have a cold. This has not been fun. I did some traveling. Somewhere along the way, producer Ben and I picked up a cold, and we have been kinda down for the count ever since I’ve been back. Those
Alison Brown: Eur- those European colds will do that to you.
[00:01:00] Remember what happened to us in Paris?
Jill Jaracz: Oh, yes. So I have my sore throat spray. And, you know, I just cleaned out the medicine cabinet, and I just threw out all my mouth spray, whatever we bought, you know, with the big plungers and stuff like that. It was all just expired, of course.
Alison Brown: And it was so good. I don’t know what the French put in their pharmacy, but whatever they do, that stuff was like magic.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. So I’ve got some American [00:01:30] stuff that will hopefully, do the deal.
Alison Brown: Do
Jill Jaracz: the trick. Um, but when I was in Europe, I was in Western Austria and, Zurich, and in Zurich we went to a bookstore and I found these two, count them, two yearbooks of Milano Cortina. Then they focus on the German team.
So two different publishers thought it would be a good idea-
Alison Brown: Winterspiel …
Jill Jaracz: yeah, to do little yearbooks. Wow. And they go day by day. One of ’em, I mean, I couldn’t [00:02:00] decide, and Ben was like, “Just buy them both.” Uh, ’cause one, one I like the pictures a lot better, and the other has, like, the whole story of the bid and-
Alison Brown: Oh
Jill Jaracz: winter, or like all Winter Olympic history kinda thing going on in the… But it’s really cool, and they have a, a lot of German team pictures. but it’s really like a whole scope of what happened every day of the games.
Alison Brown: Nice.
Jill Jaracz: So very
Alison Brown: cool. Nice little bonus.
Jill Jaracz: It is a nice little bonus, and I’m impressed that two different publishers thought this was important enough to do.
I wish that would happen more [00:02:30] often. also over the weekend, I walked into our living room and producer Ben was watching TV, and he’s like, “Hey, I’m watching Cortina.” NBC is doing Milano Cortina replays. Nice. So, and this must have been something they thought about doing in Milano because they taped segments of, like, the opening and closing- Mm-hmm
that are in front with the Duomo behind them. So I think they’re like, “Well, we spent millions and millions of dollars on this, billions of dollars on this. We [00:03:00] are,
Alison Brown: gonna
Jill Jaracz: replay it.” We are using it
Alison Brown: as much as possible.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So getting you ready for winter sports season, you might find some old Olympics coverage on NBC.
also wanted to mention at the top of the show, I will be on a Torched Talk with Torched LA. That is Alissa Walker’s, website that investigates all things about LA and mega events when it comes to civic investment and things like shade and [00:03:30] sidewalks and public transportation and where the cities are putting their money in and also with these mega event things, what they’re giving and taking from the scene.
If you don’t subscribe to Torched LA, it’s a really good newsletter, I will say that. I do love every issue that comes out. And, it’s free the Torched Talk will be On October 19th at noon Pacific Time on Zoom, and we will have a link in the show notes on how you can get connected with that.
Alison Brown: That sounds like [00:04:00] fun.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, and we’re gonna talk about what it’s like, inside the venues.
Alison Brown: Ooh.
Jill Jaracz: That kind of thing. So it’ll be a good time to see what, uh, what LA is planning and, uh, what it is like to cover games.
Also, we want to give a shout-out to our patron of the week, ’cause it is that time of year again where we shout out our, patrons who are at the level of the show shout-out, and this week, that is Lori Luskre.
Alison Brown: One of our favorites.
I, I say that- Yeah. Mm-hmm … I think I say that every [00:04:30] week when we do our- Yes. … our shout-outs. We’re like, “One of our favorites.”
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. Lori has been- Because
Alison Brown: we do love our patrons very much.
Jill Jaracz: And Lori’s been a longtime fan of the show, and we wanna say thank you so much. She’s in the Chicago area, so it is fun to see.
, She can get to a lot of things, and she posts a lot on the Facebook group, which is Keep the Flame Alive podcast group. She gets to a lot of sports stuff in the Chicagoland area. So Lori, thank you so much for all of your support throughout the [00:05:00] years, and we really appreciate you.
Alison Brown: So we have so much news coming at us the past couple weeks that we gotta do a whole news show.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. ‘Cause as it, as it is that we plan to take a break, and all of the news comes out. So.
Alison Brown: It, it’s like whenever we go on vacation, something disastrous happens. So this wasn’t disastrous, it was, it was just so much information came out while we were- Yes
taking a break.
LA 2028 News: Torch relay to hit all 50 states
Jill Jaracz: [00:05:30] Yes. LA 2028 made a big splashy announcement that the torch relay, which sponsored by Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase, Allstate, and Xfinity, will go to all 50 states.
This will be the first time out of any games hosted in the US that it will go through all 50 states.
Alison Brown: Which seems ridiculous. It’s not that hard to go through
Jill Jaracz: all 50- Oh, it is. It is. Is it? Uh, so yes. LA ’84 planned to go– I’ve been doing a lot of research on the LA ’84 torch relay. [00:06:00] LA ’84 planned to go through all 50 states, and then they found out after the announcement that it wasn’t possible in the time allotted.
Oh, fair enough. So they had to scale back. And ever since then, there’s been more and more states added, but this is the first time that– I think Salt Lake City had, uh, got to 46 states. and you’re also including the District of Columbia in that.
So, they’ve been getting closer and closer to the magic number. Alaska and [00:06:30] Hawaii are pretty far away. So that- Yes, that’s true … does kind of big complications. But, they’re gonna do it this time. They’re really gonna do it. Uh, they, and also announced that the relay will start in Atlanta, which was the last summer host of the games in America.
and the nice thing is Atlanta’s relay started in LA.
Alison Brown: Just like it was the last games- Yes … before them. That’s a nice circle.
Jill Jaracz: Nice little touch.
We figure out which cities the torch relay may visit
Jill Jaracz: Said that the torch relay route [00:07:00] would be announced in 2027, but-
Alison Brown: You’ve been doing some digging in, in- Thank
Jill Jaracz: you.
Alison Brown: You have been doing some amazing digging, by the way.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Well, no, uh, uh, with the help of AI, I will tell you that. And I have double-checked everything, and, perhaps have gone down the slippery slope of listening to a, a city council meeting or two. So, you know, you wanna keep this route a secret. However, you have to work with cities and get them to [00:07:30] sign a contract to be a host city or a stop along the route.
And you want that information to be confidential. However, cities have to go through city government and a public
Alison Brown: vote. And there’s nothing confidential in city government.
Jill Jaracz: Well, I mean, now they, you know, when you put it through city councils, it’s gotta come up. And lately, and I will give a hat tip over to Rich Perlman at the Sports Examiner, who noticed that Fresno [00:08:00] was on the list.
And, and I had also seen news that Savannah was on the list. but city councils have to run this through their government and take a vote, so that means this item gets on agendas. Uh, the letter and, information packet, I will say, also gets attached to a lot of things. So I, I’ve seen a confidential document that says, “Please don’t announce this.”
But, you know, they, they kinda have to. So LA, by [00:08:30] announcing this five, six months ahead of when you actually were That meant, that gives us time to look for it. You know what I mean? Like, I would not have thought to do this if LA hadn’t announced it
Alison Brown: Of course not. You wouldn’t have been paying attention to the route- Yes
of the torch relay. Yes. I mean, why- So- You wouldn’t have even thought it was, it was an issue until they announce it. Right. We have enough things that they do announce to keep track of to then start worrying about stuff that they’re not announcing.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. [00:09:00] So, the fact, the fact that they had to be, I guess, thirsty and be like, “Oh, well, we have to have something to talk about because we have to kind of keep being relevant in, uh, social feeds and with the algorithms, and we make this announcement,” well, you just do a little bit of digging, and you can put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Well, not all of them yet, but you can put a lot of pieces of the puzzle together. So, here is a list of cities that have approved [00:09:30] measures to sign the torch relay agreement with LA 2028. Doesn’t mean it’s completely official until the route is announced, I will tell you that. we’re starting in Atlanta.
We all know this. This has been confirmed. Going to Savannah. Uh, it will also hit Fresno, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Kansas City, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; Madison, Wisconsin. it might be coming through Cleveland. Uh, that was on- Oh. I know. I was so [00:10:00] excited to see it was on the, the- Oh … agenda.
It was on the agenda, and I couldn’t figure out whether or not it had passed yet. and it was on the agenda just recently at the end of September. Phoenix, Arizona. , Jackson, Mississippi, I also could not tell if that had passed. That went through city council at the end of September. Naples, Florida is working on the insurance requirement, but they’re a potential.
Tampa, Florida. South Lake Tahoe, which would be the area of, Winter 1960. And [00:10:30] then Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they talked about this in July. And I will say at least that some city understands the word confidential- … because they had on the agenda a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into agreements with LA 28 for, quote, “Coordination of events related to the games,” basically.
Alison Brown: They were trying to not say the torch relay.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. Good for you, Pittsburgh.
Alison Brown: Nice
Jill Jaracz: job. And then, Bozeman, [00:11:00] Montana, and they talked about this in mid-September, and they had a– I got stuck on their, their, city council video because, sometimes you can find this, and see where the measures have passed and not passed.
But, Bozeman, uh, was watching the video because they had a big discussion about how much this would cost them.
Alison Brown: Hmm.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: And- It’s not cheap …
Jill Jaracz: it’s not cheap. And, and they have to provide, like, security and, toilets. That, that was the [00:11:30] other big thing that they can… And if you’re a city at the end of the day, you can have a little celebration with the cauldron and things like that, like we saw in Venice.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Um, that, that stuff’s not gonna be cheap. And so in Bozeman, there was discussion about what this would cost. Do they really have the money to do it? Do they have the staff to do it, because the staff is already overstretched? And what is the return on investment? And the mayor said like, “Hey, our Fourth of July parade [00:12:00] doesn’t make any money.
We don’t get a return, but we still have that stuff because it’s good to have these things.” So they all approved of this first step. They hope that there are some off-ramps, which was an interesting thing to, to say, “Oh, can we get off this train if it gets too expensive for us?” So there’s at least some cities that are looking at these things.
Alison Brown: I remember that was an issue also for the Paris ’24 torch relay, that cities were really talking about how [00:12:30] expensive it was, and some c- cities pulled out-
Theme Music: Yes …
Alison Brown: in, in the 11th hour simply because they said, “We can’t afford to do this.”
Theme Music: Yes.
Alison Brown: It- So it, when you’re talking about these, especially these smaller cities where their budgets are so to the dime-
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm
Alison Brown: you can’t just fool around and have a couple of million dollars floating in there- Right … and saying, “Oh, let’s, let’s throw a party.”
Jill Jaracz: Right. so we’ll see what happens there. the mayor of Bozeman said that they’d been working on this [00:13:00] for about a year and ta- they’ve been talking for about a year. So this, this has been going on for a while in planning the torch relay route.
and he also said that, they may not be the only city in Montana. There could be perhaps also Missoula and Billings on the list, but haven’t found anything yet. So we’ll keep digging ‘ cause now this is fun. Now you’re looking. Yeah. Thank you, thank you, thank you, LA. according to this torch [00:13:30] relay agreement document that all these cities got, cities will have to establish a community task force of the city’s relevant stakeholders to plan and coordinate all aspects of the city’s participation in the relay.
Cities will have the right to select a certain number of torchbearers to run in that city. So if you are looking to be a torchbearer, also think about if your city is hosting. They may have a route for that too. Those torchbearer slots should be awarded solely on [00:14:00] merit, so that would be no contests involved kind of thing.
It’s gotta be merit-based, awards. And then unlike Paris 2024, cities don’t have to pay a fee to LA28, which I think that was the big hiccup-
Alison Brown: Yes …
Jill Jaracz: for, for Paris. they will have to provide services, so stages, barricades, security, toilets, all that kind of fun stuff. So big, big torch relay news.
Alison Brown: It’s gonna be a big torch [00:14:30] relay, period.
Jill Jaracz: It’s, it is
Alison Brown: gonna be huge. Which is a lot of fun. I, I hope it comes through Cleveland for you. I do too. Because the chances of me seeing it, I’d have to go into, to New York City probably.
Jill Jaracz: Because those- Well, it’s gonna be– It’s coming through Connecticut somehow.
Alison Brown: I know, but it’s gonna go through Hartford or someplace far away.
It’s not gonna come through my little town.
Jill Jaracz: I, I love far away in New England terms.
Alison Brown: Well, Hartford is, like, two hours away from me, so that’s-
Jill Jaracz: Not far …
Alison Brown: you know, [00:15:00] it’s not that far. I mean, I probably could swing it. But yeah, so it’s– I, I hope it comes to places where we can see, because when we got to see it in Chicago back in the day- Yes
it was, it was really– You– I did not expect it to be so moving and emotional to just see the torch. ‘Cause we, now, especially now, we’ve seen the torch so many times- Mm … and in so many different, ways, and yet it’s emotional every single time.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And so [00:15:30] many people bring so many different things to that moment, ’cause I remember in Paris when I saw the torch relay pass by the Paris Media Center for the- Yes
Paralympics, and all of these people were out cheering this man who had robotic legs-
Alison Brown: Mm-hmm …
Jill Jaracz: and was able to walk a short distance with those. And it was just, it’s just that power, the power of this flame that-
Alison Brown: Yes …
Jill Jaracz: brings people together and inspires people, and it’s just, it’s gonna be fun.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: I will say that.
I’m [00:16:00] very excited.
Alison Brown: And we had a great time in our Venice party.
Jill Jaracz: We did.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So the- We did … if you can go to the evening party, those are, those are great community events, not just getting excited for the Olympics a- and, and the Paralympics, but just getting excited as a community to come together, ’cause there’s so few things now that we get to do as communities, and this is one of them, and that it’s part of the Olympics makes it even more special.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. gets, uh, people excited about the [00:16:30] games and just revs up interest. Ah, so excited.
LA 2028: More hospitality houses in the works
Jill Jaracz: Hospitality house news.
Alison Brown: Speaking of parties.
Jill Jaracz: Oh. Housepartyhead.blog has more news. So earlier this year, we mentioned that Romania wanted to have a hospitality house in Beverly Hills. Romania wants to use a private home for this.
Beverly Hills does not allow short-term rental of residential places. They would have to sign a one-year lease for use of some place [00:17:00] for just, like, a few weeks. This went up a- again ahead of, Beverly Hills City Council. They said no dice. And so if you are thinking like, “Oh, I wanna go to the Olympics or Paralympics, and I would like to stay in Beverly Hills,” you will not be able to find an Airbnb there.
Alison Brown: They are illegal.
Jill Jaracz: Right, unless you decide you would like a one-year lease.
Alison Brown: Which may be cheaper than some of the Airbnbs.
Jill Jaracz: In Beverly Hills? now Romania’s looking for a [00:17:30] non-residential venue. there could be a Beverly Hills hospitality house. That is on the table, but no decisions have been made yet.
There will be a Caribbean house at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall, and that’s gonna be the home for athletes from the Caribbean and Africa. the neighborhoods around the mall have a lot of Caribbean influence, so the fun could spread out into the local area. Oh. Which
Alison Brown: sounds so exciting. Can you imagine a Caribbean party?
Jill Jaracz: Oh, yes. [00:18:00] Right?
Alison Brown: Especially the nights where they have, some of the runners, like St. Lucia and, and Jamaica- Oh, right … and them com- and then having them competing. Forget it. That’ll be a wild place to be.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. Czech House is in final negotiations to, be at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica.
And then houses for Team GB and Korea are in the works, and Casa Italia is looking for space. Houseparty.blog mentioned [00:18:30] that in 1984, Casa Italia had a house in Beverly Hills. Looking for space there again, so there
Alison Brown: you go. But we know you can’t rent a private home- Right … for less than a year.
Jill Jaracz: Culver City is also considering hosting the Netherlands Hospitality House. a group from the country recently presented at its city council with a number of things, including the option of a hospitality house. So we will see
LA 2028 fan viewing sites announced
Jill Jaracz: Rich Perlman of the “Sports Examiner” reported that the city of [00:19:00] LA is planning to have 24 viewing sites throughout the city. They will cover all 15 city council districts. Locations include MacArthur Park, Echo Lake Park, the Greek Theatre, the Autry Museum lawn, and Watts Towers, along with a number of recreation centers.
More information is to come on that. Expect them to be free, but ticketed to help manage crowds. that will be exciting, too.
Alison Brown: Yeah, the more viewing sites that we get around the city, the more enthusiasm, the [00:19:30] more, again, like we were saying before, the more community events.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly.
Alpes 2030 News: Budget reduced
Alison Brown: Beaucoup euros
Jill Jaracz: Yes. We have some news from the French Alps 2030. they have a new budget, which is interesting because the move from Nice, which was the original spot for the ice events, to Lyon is going to save the organizing committee a lot of euros. France Jours reported that [00:20:00] the board of directors of Alps 2030 announced a new financial plan that shows public funding is currently at 665 million euros, and that is 204 million less than at the beginning of the year.
Alison Brown: Wow, that is a big difference.
Jill Jaracz: That is huge. I wonder if some of that has to do also with the fact that, everything is closer and more compact.
Alison Brown: And less construction.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. well, speaking of construction, they’ve also announced more concrete construction plans for the various [00:20:30] athlete villages, and the development process is underway for them.
So, there’s gonna be several villages throughout the area, and, um, it looks like they’re gonna be converted into other housing once the games are done.
Alpes 2030: Changes to the event program and athlete quotas
Jill Jaracz: We have some news for the event program as well. There’s gonna be some changes for skating. the International Skating Union announced that starting in the ’27, ’28 season, speed skating is now going to be called long track speed skating.
Alison Brown: Which we kind of call it that. This is reflecting [00:21:00] reality. You know, we’ve been calling it long track pretty much since short track became a thing. So, I think this is just reflecting reality of how people are using the terms.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. And then adding Synchro-9 as an event is going to add 90 skating athletes to the quota.
So, the ISU is going to remove places from other disciplines in order to compensate for that. They’re removing two places in speed skating, one male, one female, and then four in [00:21:30] figure skating, one male, one female, one ice dance couple.
Alison Brown: Which- Um, Jill? That
Jill Jaracz: means… Yes.
Alison Brown: I’m doing some math here
That’s only six places.
Jill Jaracz: Right?
Alison Brown: So how is removing six places make balance with adding 90?
Jill Jaracz: I have no idea. and why is it male, female in ice dance and not including pairs?
Alison Brown: Well, I [00:22:00] think pairs has fewer entries to begin with.
Jill Jaracz: Huh. Do we know why that is?
Alison Brown: No.
Jill Jaracz: Hmm. On the list. also this past summer, we found out that parallel giant slalom has been on the chopping block, and it survived for French Alps.
And according to the International Skiing Federation, they have also added an event, the snowboard mixed team parallel. So new event for that. FIS had its autumn meetings. Oh, I love these autumn meeting. I [00:22:30] love their technical meetings ’cause they really tell some stuff. They are working on showing the growth of the sport, ahead of 2034 program decisions.
And speaking of 2034, they also wanna get street style on the Olympic program, and this, uh, falls under park and pipe
Alison Brown: Oh. How do you get street style snowboard? Whoa.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I guess that you just have some, some snow and then like rails and, and-
Alison Brown: Oh, that’ll be [00:23:00] interesting to- … stairs … see what that actually means.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So that could be coming. We don’t know yet, but they’re, they are pushing to put that on the program. Speaking of stuff on the program or not on the program, let’s give you a little Nordic combined update since that got kicked out of the Olympics. They are looking at new formats and testing new formats.
One of the things that they’re looking at is a new format to be at one venue instead of two. They’re looking at a shorter timeframe to be more broadcast-friendly and, help control [00:23:30] costs. And so that is hopefully to get back into 2034. And, they’re looking for something that’s about 60 minutes long.
Wow. They’re also looking for more head-to-head competition, kind of racing in heats with a clear final, and, uh, do a whole first athlete to cross the finish line is the winner. And they want ski jumping points to remain relevant until the final, and simpler rules and easy judging.
Alison Brown: Oh, that’s gonna be the challenge because even ski [00:24:00] jumping on its own, the rules and, and judging is very complicated to understand- Yes
from the outside.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So translating those jumps into points, that translates into where you start. Time. Yes. So we’ll see. it was interesting to read up on what Nordic combined is looking at to try to get back in the games.
Brisbane 2032: Emblem (leaked and) announced
Jill Jaracz: Brisbane 32. We have an emblem [00:24:30]
Alison Brown: Yeah, since when is it called an emblem and not a logo?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know. Maybe that’s Australian.
Alison Brown: Maybe Australian speak as opposed to US and European speak.
Jill Jaracz: this emblem reveal, they would reveal parts of it like a little teaser. and then somebody did something stupid.
Alison Brown: I feel whoever was responsible for leaking this early, it, it wasn’t tremendously early. I think it leaked on the Saturday and the announcement was supposed to be [00:25:00] on Monday. But whoever that was, I am so sorry because we have all done that at jobs in various scales where you sent out the email and then you find the typo.
It-
Jill Jaracz: Yes, or you-
Alison Brown: We’ve all done
Jill Jaracz: it … copied everyone. Yes.
Alison Brown: Yeah, or you did a reply all and you shouldn’t have. I mean, everybody has had this moment. Unfortunately, you know, most of us don’t have that moment on an international scale.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And all of their little dropping of [00:25:30] hints about the logo was getting a lot of attention and people were getting very excited, and then the YouTube channel ha- had an explainer video thumbnail It was just one of those, like, this video will go live in two days, but that thumbnail also had the logo on it So everyone got to see it.
Alison Brown: Yeah. And it-
Jill Jaracz: It’s a cockatoo. It’s a cockatoo.
Alison Brown: Which I was very relieved. So when I first looked at it, we’ll explain it in a, in a, in a second [00:26:00] and go through the, the details of it, but when I first looked at it, I said, “It looks like a cockatoo.” And then I read that it was supposed to be a cockatoo, and I was so relieved-
that that was- That you got
Jill Jaracz: it right?
Alison Brown: Well, not even so much that I got it right, that what it was intended to be is what it came across at first view. You know, that, like, immediately you knew what it was. It wasn’t trying to be clever-
Jill Jaracz: Yes …
Alison Brown: in that way of, of, you know, oh, it’s like London was trying to be clever with their hidden [00:26:30] spaces within that.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah. London’s logo. Ugh.
Alison Brown: Ugh.
Jill Jaracz: so the cockatoo is described as a living flame, and this is how they explain it. The feathers are meant to evoke the shape and colors of Queensland, and then there, it’s grouped in, three feathers and then two feathers for 2032, and it’s described as a universal symbol that stands for unity and hope and the fire that burns inside Australians for [00:27:00] sport.
Alison Brown: I like it. Do you like it?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, you
Alison Brown: know, it’s kinda growing on me. I love that it looks like
Jill Jaracz: a,
Alison Brown: it’s a bird, but it’s a flame, and I like how the- I do like
Jill Jaracz: that.
Alison Brown: That’s very clever. It’s like Maryanne from-
Jill Jaracz: Right …
Alison Brown: where you have a flame- Do you see the bird or do you see the flame? Do you s- Right, where it has the, that dual picture.
Now the question becomes, you’ve done this cockatoo in your emblem. Are we hinting at a mascot?
Jill Jaracz: That is a very good question, ’cause I thought [00:27:30] that too. But then wouldn’t that be overkill?
Alison Brown: it’d be cockatoo overkill. You know, too much cockatoo is just, you know, too much.
Jill Jaracz: yeah, but, the longer I look at the logo, the more I like it.
I like the colors a lot- The colors are beautiful … oranges and reds and magentas in there, and you get the little eye for the bird that’s magenta. I don’t know the shape of Queensland very well, but when you put this- I don’t know it at all … [00:28:00] yeah. W- uh, for Australians, when you put this on the map, it’s l- it does look like the,
Alison Brown: The shape of the-
Jill Jaracz: state …
Alison Brown: the state.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, yes. But it’s… I, I think it’s a, a simple logo, but very effective.
Alison Brown: Agreed. Yes, I would agree with that.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, according to theconversation.com, the emblem was designed by a consortium of agencies, so a lot of rooms, a lot of voices in the room kinda thing, which surprisingly worked.
Alison Brown: Right, ’cause often when you see a consortium or contest, [00:28:30] that does not go well.
Jill Jaracz: No. No, no, no, no. So those agencies included VML, Variant, and Black Card. nice to have some logos going on for Brisbane ’32. They’re making progress.
Alison Brown: Right, and the logo is nice to have early because now they can just consistently use it on all their documents, all their announcements.
I mean, y- you may say, “Oh my goodness, why are they sending this out so early?” But it makes a lot of sense because everything that they do from now on will have this emblem [00:29:00] on it, and that will be a nice consistent visual throughout.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: And it also gives us a hint of the colors that they’re using and the font.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm. Yes, the font is n- I like the font. It’s-
Alison Brown: I like the font very much.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. It, it is a very you font. It is- … uh, semi… Not, not, y- not to… It’s classic but modern, I would say, ’cause it’s
Alison Brown: got- It’s got some round.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, it’s got some serif going on. Yes. But not huge in either way, so [00:29:30] it’s, it’s- Exactly
you know, and it’s hard to do fonts, I would think, when you’re looking at something so far away.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: You know, because that was another thing about London 2012, which had this very graffiti-like logo and look. Like, that looked really tough to deal with for so many years.
Alison Brown: Right, and also by the time it came around, it almost looked dated-
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm
Alison Brown: by the time the event actually has- happened. This, I think, is much more classic and simple and quiet [00:30:00] and kind of relying on the colors- Yes … which we know… I mean, this is gonna be a great color palette for them.
Jill Jaracz: I also like the fact that it’s not dynamic.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: gosh. It doesn’t change all the time.
Alison Brown: I know. I mean, that was such a clever idea from LA, and then they realized it wasn’t- Yeah … such a clever idea. Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: I mean, it’s, it’s nice that they can update the LA logo to kinda do different things, but it’s nice to have one unifying [00:30:30] symbol
Alison Brown: for your
Jill Jaracz: games.
Brisbane 2032: Possible new events and rowing venue clarifications
Jill Jaracz: Right. a little event news, so hat tip to Rich Perlman again at the Sports Examiner. Archery wants to have a bigger presence at Brisbane 2032. They are pushing for compound indoor archery to be added to the program.
Alison Brown: When we get the program for Brisbane, this is gonna be, I feel, uh, uh, earth-shattering in a way because everybody’s pulling in so many different directors, directions, excuse me, on this program.[00:31:00]
And it’s so many voices, so many, you know, we’re trying to make it… Everybody wants their, their piece of the pie.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: And how is that gonna play out, and who the winners and losers are gonna be on this program is gonna be- E- e- because- … interesting to see …
Jill Jaracz: we know there are gonna be some losers.
Alison Brown: There have to be.
not everybody can get a piece of the pie. It is, it is a limited space. It is limited quota. And- Not everybody can have it …
Jill Jaracz: and getting smaller-
Alison Brown: Right …
Jill Jaracz: compared to [00:31:30] LA, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. World Archery President Greg Easton said, on the, the sports website that the indoor ev- event is closer to spectators and is broadcast friendly.
did we talk about the crocodile-filled river that could be-
Alison Brown: I don’t, I don’t think we’ve talked about it on the show. We have talked about it.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, right, because it’s been a question of like, do we talk about this because the crocodile-filled, I, I believe it is the Fitzroy River-
Alison Brown: Yes …
Jill Jaracz: um, has [00:32:00] crocodiles in it, and this is gonna be like the Zika of the games.
Alison Brown: Or is it? That’s- Yes … that’s the question. Is this gonna be the story that’s a non-story?
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And, um-
Alison Brown: Or is someone gonna die?
Jill Jaracz: Well, World Rowing President Jean-Christophe Rolland, talked to francojou.com and said, “Well, no, this is not a done deal yet, so let’s keep your crocodiles FA.” And he said the venue has undergone one round of examinations to make sure it’s suitable, but they have to confirm a lot [00:32:30] more technical details and facilities, and the fact that it’s a river means that if there’s a lot of rain, there could be strong currents, and that is a no-go.
the fact that this venue is a river and there could be rain. If there’s strong rains, it makes strong currents, and you can’t have that in rowing ‘ cause then not every rowing lane would be, even, if that makes sense. So you can’t– You gotta have consistency across all the lanes, and if you have currents going on, there could be problems.
Alison Brown: More [00:33:00] problems than just crocodiles.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. So more to come on that. World Rowing also wants a different event in the Brisbane 2032, ’32 Games. They want mixed eights to come into play
Alison Brown: I got nothing on that.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, I was gonna say, you like mixed events.
Alison Brown: I do like mixed events.
Jill Jaracz: So
Alison Brown: what do you think about the- But I als- I also don’t like mixed events for the sake of a mixed event.
Jill Jaracz: Hmm. Okay. So then that’s, that poses the question, [00:33:30] when is a mixed event a mixed event and not, not like for the sake of?
Alison Brown: When I say so.
Jill Jaracz: Good, good point. I’ll take it. I’ll take it. It’s, uh, it’s, y- there’s a feeling for you?
Alison Brown: Yes, there is a- I don’t know. I guess the way rowing… I, I mean, it does, it, it… I think because they’re just, they’re just trying to get another event. I don’t feel like
Jill Jaracz: it makes- They are- Yeah
’cause it w- would not [00:34:00] add to the quota. It would just be athletes get another chance at a medal.
Alison Brown: Right, and that feels a little silly.
Jill Jaracz: I, I’m curious what it’s like to have men and women in the boat. True. You know, there’s a different height diff- if – how the height difference stacks up, or do you need to have very tall women and men on the shorter side?
Or what, what needs to happen there?
Alison Brown: How you, how you fill your boat based- Yes … on who you have. Yes. Because it’s just like you said, it’s based on who already is in the eights or in the fours.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Or in whichever [00:34:30] event that they’re, they’re gonna pull the, uh, the rowers from. Can they pull rowers from all counts?
Or can it only- I don’t
Jill Jaracz: know.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Do they have to be in eights? Or can it only be eights? You know, if you can pull it from all counts, that could get really interesting.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm
So we shall see what happens with Brisbane. This, sport and event announcement is gonna be exciting.
Alison Brown: I know. Usually that’s such a, a nothing, like we kinda know. Not this time. Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Fit for the future
International Olympic Committee News: 2036 Host City guidelines set, candidates announced
Alison Brown: [00:35:00] And the IOC has been busy.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh, yes. the International Olympic Committee announced how it’s going to select the host of the 2036 Olympic Games they put out this 30-page, granted that is a lot of pictures all over the place, host selection handbook. And the host selection has been a point of contention among IOC members given the way the last couple of [00:35:30] hosts have been chosen.
Not, not, uh, Milano-Cortina was the last in, like, the beauty pageant-
Alison Brown: Yes …
Jill Jaracz: where you put together bids and everybody presented their bids, and the bids started costing millions and millions of dollars. Cities started dropping out. So Thomas Bach, the former president, awarded, 2024 and ’28 at the same time.
And then, then we got this new host city selection where hosts talked [00:36:00] kinda on the sly, behind the scenes. If you wanted to host, you told the IOC, they started talking with you, and if things looked good, you started filling out questionnaires and, and sharing your information and what you had. And you moved from different strategic dialogue phase to a targeted dialogue phase I think.
I, I don’t know. The, it was a lot of dialogue phases.
Alison Brown: Yes. And this was all done behind the scenes. You didn’t know that this was happening unless it got leaked.
Jill Jaracz: [00:36:30] Yes. Or the- Which is how- Or the city said yes.
Alison Brown: Right, which is how Brisbane was selected through this targeted and selected and- Right … many levels of dialogue.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So it was almost like even though there was an IOC member vote for Brisbane, it was kind of like the executive committee voted for this, and then IOC membership, you just gotta rubber stamp it.
Alison Brown: Right, because there weren’t other cities bidding or other cities involved in these various levels of dialogue.
Right, and- So it’s not like they got a [00:37:00] presentation of a couple of cities or three or four cities saying, “We’ve all gone through this process.” No, it was Brisbane was the only one going through the process.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, right. and I think cities did not know when the process ended because all of a sudden you went from having seven years to, plan an Olympic Games and the, the vote was seven years ahead of time to Brisbane, which was way more than that.
I can’t remember when Brisbane. Brisbane’s 2032’s been around a long [00:37:30] time.
Alison Brown: Long time.
Jill Jaracz: And I think that really caught people off guard, and the IOC membership doesn’t really love being a rubber stamp in this particular aspect, I think.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: This is, uh, getting to vote for a host city is a pretty big deal.
So, Kirsty Coventry and the IOC has, has made a lot of changes in how they do this process now. we still have this future host commission, So we still have this new, this Future Host Commission, [00:38:00] and, There’s three phases that potential host cities need to go through. So they go through continuous, then strategic, then targeted dialogue. Again, all of that seems meaningless in a way. But okay, now we put in a timeline of steps. So October 31st is gonna be the deadline for potential host cities to indicate their interest to host 2036.
Alison Brown: So that in and of itself is new [00:38:30] in that we now know, okay, there’s a deadline, it’s announced, everybody’s on the same page to say, “If you’re thinking about this, you gotta let us know.”
Jill Jaracz: Right. And 2036 is, uh, that’s still 10 years from now.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: and I know cities and governments do a lot of long range planning, but still that’s even a lot to think about and keep planning what you’ve got going on, and the world is going to be completely different by then, so what do you [00:39:00] envision?
in November, the cities will give virtual presentations to the Future Host Commission, and the IOC will do feasibility assessments. And then in March 2027, they plan to open the strategic dialogue phase with the IOC executive board. So that means cities that get into this process will have to fill out a future host questionnaire.
They have to provide legal and financial guarantees. There will be site visits involved, [00:39:30] and the, Future Host Commission will produce a report for the executive board. December 2028, the list will be narrowed down to a targeted dialogue phase with preferred hosts who will have to un- answer another questionnaire and do another full set of guarantees because, you know, it’s been over a year since
Alison Brown: they did
Jill Jaracz: the forum.
And things change
Alison Brown: as we- Yes … as we have seen.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And they plan to vote on the host city at the IOC session [00:40:00] in mid-2029. So we, we will be back to a seven-year cycle.
Alison Brown: Which I think makes a lot of sense because this longer cycle hasn’t helped these cities. If anything, it’s caused more issues because you have more time for changes, more time for disruption, more time for people to get angry about things.
Jill Jaracz: And, and more time kind of spending on administrative costs. Even if you have a tiny staff, you’re still spending a lot of money.
Alison Brown: It’s still money. [00:40:30]
Jill Jaracz: Right? So the IOC also released the National Olympic Committees that are currently in the running for this.
Alison Brown: Which I love. Thank you so much for giving us a- Right
a, a clue as to who’s talking.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So we’ve got Germany, who has put forth Munich. Hungary, will put forth Budapest, they’ve been in the running a lot, but they dropped out of 2024, I believe. They were one of those cities. India is in the race with Ahmedabad. [00:41:00] Qatar would like to host in Doha.
South Korea would like to host. This would be a dual bid between Jeonbuk State and Seoul. South Africa has put their name in, and Istanbul, Türkiye.
Alison Brown: Not a, not a new player in this game either.
Jill Jaracz: No. They have, they have bid a lot for the games. What do you think?
Alison Brown: Well, I think it’s a great list. I think it’s a list of new, new world, [00:41:30] old world, which is exciting.
I think, um, I’m surprised to see South Korea.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay.
Alison Brown: In, in a way, given that Pyeongchang was not terrible- I mean, it was successful, but it wasn’t, I don’t think, what they envisioned-
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm …
Alison Brown: in terms of getting them more winter sports activity than, than they thought. But obviously summer is very different.
you must be thrilled with Munich, ’cause you’re like, “I can use my German left and right- … [00:42:00] and have a grand old time.”
Jill Jaracz: And Munich’s got, I mean, they’ve got facilities. it will be interesting to see how they would have to revamp them. They have a big park that has a stadium and a swimming pool, and it’s, it’s a beautiful place.
But- How much other stuff are they gonna have to build or- Right … or find room for? Because, uh, the games have gotten so much bigger than they were in Munich.
Alison Brown: Right, and Doha [00:42:30] you know is just gonna be throw money at this thing left and right. Yes. It’s just gonna be an absolute…
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, whatever
Alison Brown: you want. I,
Jill Jaracz: we-
Alison Brown: And,
Jill Jaracz: and-
Alison Brown: I was about to say a word we don’t say on the show Of just cash everywhere
Jill Jaracz: A lot of cash, but, but we’re also talking heat, and what does that do for the timeline of the games?
Alison Brown: Right. I guess the one that [00:43:00] I’m the most concerned about is Istanbul because the idea of me trying to get around Istanbul- … sounds like a disaster waiting to happen Just from completely selfish reasons- Right, right … I just see myself, you know, being lost in Istanbul and, and never coming out.
Jill Jaracz: I’m curious about South Africa and would be interested in seeing what [00:43:30] they have to offer because, of course, the Games has never been to Africa. Is 2036, that’s 10 years from now, is that the time?
Alison Brown: Is
Jill Jaracz: it time? Don’t know. That’ll be interesting. They’ve hel- they’ve hosted a World Cup, so they’ve got some kind of infrastructure, although World Cup tends to be around a country.
I don’t know. I, I’m very curious. I think, I think Germany and Hungary are the, the big forerunners, and, and South Africa to an extent because Seoul hosted a [00:44:00] successful Games. Take out the running, doping, and, and the boxing problems. But the-
Alison Brown: And, and the pi- and, and the pigeon-
Jill Jaracz: Yes … fest.
Alison Brown: The pigeon fry of Seoul.
Jill Jaracz: Oh. but yeah, you’re looking at a Games, so ‘ 24 is Paris, ’28 is LA, ’32 is Brisbane, ’36, do you keep them out of Europe and do three outside of Europe, [00:44:30] or do you go back to Europe? It’s– it’ll be interesting to see. I, I would be curious to know what, um… Okay, so wait, we have to put all of the Games into perspective there.
Sorry. ’24, France, Europe. ’26, Italy, Europe. ‘ 28, US. ’30, Europe. ’32, or ’30– ’32, Australia. ’34, US. So you’re, you’ve got a number of [00:45:00] Games that aren’t in Europe. Do they take them back? Right,
Alison Brown: I, I don’t think that’s a factor just because we’ve gotten, we’ve sort of mixed up the, the list enough-
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm …
Alison Brown: in this decade that I think if we go back to Europe, it’s okay.
If we don’t go back to Europe, it’s okay.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. I’ll take that. ‘ Cause it’s always interesting to see how much… Because they’re still so Europe-centric, the Games.
Alison Brown: Right. I mean, the Olympics still is [00:45:30] based out of, Lausanne. I mean, it, it’s, it’s still a European entity as much as we, you know, like to claim it here in the US as, as ours.
But it’s still a European e- uh, entity. And you’ve got so many countries in Europe Right … that want a piece of this pie. You know? Right. I keep saying piece of the pie in the show, but that’s really what this is.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So it’ll be interesting to see if they want to go back to a place they’ve been before, or do we put a new city, new [00:46:00] host city in the mix?
So I’m curious- Mm-hmm … what the listeners think of all of this as well.
Alison Brown: Yeah, who would you pick if today was the vote?
The surprising number of cyber abuse incidences at Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026
Jill Jaracz: Also a little cyber abuse news. Um, we know that athletes can face a lot of online abuse, and for Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, all athletes are covered by the IOC’s Cyber Abuse Protection Service.
So they use AI to monitor social media platforms. This system was at Paris 2024, Milan [00:46:30] 2026. It analyzed 4.3 million posts during those games, flagged 242,000 posts as problematic. And then they had humans- Wow … analyze those and verified 24,700 as being abusive, which is ridiculous. It means basically every athlete More than, like twice over, was, could have been the subject of abuse.
Alison Brown: What is wrong with people? [00:47:00] That is… What is wrong with you that you feel the need to attack a total stranger online like that?
Jill Jaracz: Right?
Alison Brown: Just, I can understand being frustrated. I can understand wanting your team to win. I can understand, I could even understand attacking a team. You know, “Oh, the Jets are so stupid.
They did X, Y, and Z.” I c- but to personally attack an individual athlete like they’re [00:47:30] not a human being is just beyond my comprehension.
Jill Jaracz: And because they’re an athlete, it’s okay to abuse them. They, like they owe us something. You know what I mean?
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: They don’t owe us anything. They’re, they’re entertaining us, but they don’t owe us something, and it’s not fair to treat them like this.
I mean, it’s horrible to treat them like this. So-
Alison Brown: 20, over, almost 25,000 abusive- [00:48:00]
Jill Jaracz: Yeah …
Alison Brown: posts.
Jill Jaracz: Insane. Insane. Uh, so knock it off for LA ’28. That’s our personal message to you.
Alison Brown: Grow up. Yes. Get a life.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Get offline and go watch or go play.
Alison Brown: Go, go touch some grass.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. How’s your Olympic medal?
Alison Brown: Exactly, as the kids say.
Jill Jaracz: once they’ve deemed content as abusive, the [00:48:30] NOCs get notified, and the athletes are offered safeguarding and mental health support, and social media platforms also get notified for additional investigation.
And, and honestly, like any– I don’t know how athletes can stay online during a games, ‘ cause even if you do well- Right … they’re gonna find something like, “Oh, you look horrible. You’re, you’re ugly. You’re fat. You’re whatever.” Is it worth it at the end of the day?
Alison Brown: Right. You know, no matter how– If you win the silver, well, you lost gold.
You know, all that kind of-
Jill Jaracz: [00:49:00] Right.
Alison Brown: Mm-hmm … talk.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, and It takes a lot of thick skin to manage all of that, or, and to let it- Yeah … roll off your back, and it’s really hard sometimes. It, sometimes it can’t. So, it’s good that the IOC has this program in process.
Alison Brown: That they have something in place, that they’re recognizing the issue, and then now for Dakar, this is gonna be kids.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: Which makes it 10 times worse- Right … to go after these kids. I mean, these are not the Usain Bolts of the [00:49:30] world who are international superstars. These are kids.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, so I’m curious to see how much attention gets paid to them.
Maybe it’s more so in Africa because the games are there- Mm-hmm … or at least in Senegal because that’s local. hopefully people can realize they’re kids and keep it nice. But, yeah, it’s just uncalled for that we have to have stuff like this.
Theme Music: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: But at least it’s, uh, being looked at, so. Yeah.
On that cheery note, [00:50:00] don’t, don’t forget Torched Talks with Alyssa Walker on October 19th at noon, Pacific Time. You can hear me and, uh, Alyssa chat all things LA 2028. It’ll be a lot of fun. And, that is gonna do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.
Alison Brown: And until next time, keep the flame alive.