Venice Beach location for 2028 Olympic Triathlon, critics don’t understand choice of venue

That the 2028 Olympics will be held in Los Angeles was of course already widely known, but now it is also clear where the Olympic triathlon will take place: in world-famous Venice Beach. On paper a beautiful location, but immediately after the announcement the criticism poured in.

Venice Beach is one of the most famous beach towns in Los Angeles – and even the world – and owes that fame mainly to its iconic promenade and pier, where mimes, jugglers, musicians and street performers try to entertain visitors day and night. Basically, then, this is a great and certainly iconic location to host the Olympic triathlon, but given the criticism, that remains to be seen.

People overwhelmingly report that the water is full of seaweed and the environment is actually far too dirty to host a race in a proper way. This of course brings to mind the previous Olympics – held in Paris – in which triathletes had to swim in the much too polluted Seine river. Races were then postponed and until a few minutes before the start it was constantly unclear whether the races would go ahead at all. Afterwards, many Olympic athletes were sick.