By Jorge Garcia
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The Olympic flag arrived on Monday in Los Angeles, where it will be flown in 2028 when the city hosts the next Summer Games.
The flag arrived aboard a Delta Airlines jet carrying American athletes and officials, and painted with “LA28” and palm trees on its side. Hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur’s “California Love” blasted on loudspeakers on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport as the plane came to a stop.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stepped off the plane dressed in a red Team USA tracksuit, smiled broadly and waved the Olympic flag before descending airstairs to be greeted by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Olympic diver Delaney Schnell, skateboarder Tate Carew and others accompanied the mayor.
Bass said at the airport that she felt a “tremendous pride and responsibility” in being given the Olympic Flag in Paris on Sunday. While Los Angeles has been putting in the work to host a great Games, the mayor said American organizers now really felt the “need to put our foot on the gas.”
The International Olympic Committee awarded Los Angeles the right in 2017 to host the 2028 Games. It will be the third time LA has hosted the Games in the modern era, after being the host city in 1932 and 1984.
Bass acknowledged Paris had set a high bar as an Olympic host, and that LA’s homelessness problem would be a challenge to overcome. But the City of Angels has one world-class asset that nobody else can claim: “We do have Hollywood, so I expect a lot of magical opportunities,” she told Reuters in Paris.
Olympic officials in Paris handed the flag to their American counterparts on Sunday during the closing ceremony. Actor Tom Cruise provided a dose of Hollywood flare in Paris, as he rappelled from the roof of France’s national stadium to receive the flag.
Cruise’s exit from Paris’ closing ceremony on a motorbike saw it transition to a pre-recorded video of the 62-year-old skydiving down to the Hollywood sign, where a wide shot showed the Olympic rings incorporated into the LA landmark.
(Reporting by Jorge Garcia in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; Editing by Rod Nickel and Stephen Coates)
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