Rather than a single Olympic Park, the LA28 Games will be organised into several distinct Zones.
Some Zones are action-packed, featuring multiple disciplines and medal events, while others focus on a single sport and leverage the city’s existing world-class infrastructure.
In this series, The 1461 deconstructs these key hubs, providing an overview of the venues and sports that will take place in each Zone.
Long Beach Zone
Located 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach Zone will be one of the busiest zones of the Summer in 2028, with seven different venues hosting Olympic and Paralympic action.
Marine Stadium
Built to host the 1932 Summer Olympics, Marine Stadium was the first manmade rowing course in the United States and will again host the Rowing as well as the Canoe Sprint events at the Summer Olympics. It will also host their Paralympic equivalents, Para Rowing and Para Canoe.
Back in 1932, Great Britain won three golds at this venue: the men’s coxless pair, men’s coxless four and the men’s eight. Great Britain medalled in all three of these events in 2024, winning silver, bronze, and gold, respectively.
However, there will be one major difference in the rowing events in Los Angeles. Despite 2,000m being adopted as the standard distance for Olympic rowing following the 1912 Stockholm Games, it’s been confirmed that the events will take place over a short 1,500m course. That’s because the J.H. Davies Bridge, built in 1955, blocks the rowing course, which, for the Olympics, demands a 6-8-lane course.
Thankfully, this isn’t an issue for Canoe Sprint, with the longest event just 1000m.
Belmont Shore
Home to the US Sailing Center, Belmont Shore will host all Sailing Events, as well as the Open Water Swimming and, for the first time in Olympic history, Rowing Coastal Beach Sprints.
Ten different Sailing medals will be awarded, held at the same venue as the 1984 Summer Olympics. Marathon Swimming was first part of the Olympic programme in 2008, with both men’s and women’s 10km events.
However, Rowing Coastal Beach Sprints will be a complete first. The sport features a run-row-run configuration: rushing to their boat, rowing 250m out and back, then jumping out of the boat to cross the finish line.
Three medals will be awarded, in the men’s and women’s solo events, as well as a mixed double sculls event.
Long Beach Convention Center
Originally built in 1905 as the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the Long Beach Convention Center hosted Fencing during the 1984 Olympic Games.
However, in 2028, Fencing will take place at the LA Convention Center, in the DTLA Zone.
The Long Beach Convention Center will host a temporary purpose-built indoor range for the Shooting and Shooting Para Sport events, with 15 Olympic and 13 Paralympic Gold medals awarded.
Long Beach Arena
Pictured above (bottom right), the Long Beach Arena forms part of the Long Beach Convention Center, hosting basketball, ice hockey and music concerts since it opened in 1962.
Elvis Presley, The Eagles, Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi have all played the venue, with capacity ranging from 10,500 for concerts to 14,000 for basketball matches.
The Arena will host the Handball tournaments during the Olympic Games, with the venue also hosting Sitting Volleyball during the Paralympics.
Long Beach Aquatics Center
One of the most ambitious elements of the Long Beach Zone is the Long Beach Aquatics Center. This will be a temporary open-air stadium in the car park of the Long Beach Convention Center.
The Artistic Swimming and Water Polo will take place here, as opposed to with the other Swimming events at SoFi Stadium.
During the Paralympics, however, the Para Swimming will take place at this venue.
Alamitos Beach Stadium
Another temporary space will host both the Beach Volleyball and Blind Football during the Olympics and Paralympics, respectively.
Long Beach Climbing Theater
The artist’s illustration above shows just how the temporary open-air venue for the Sport Climbing medals will look like during the Olympic and Paralympic games.
A short distance from other venues in the Long Beach Zone, such as the Long Beach Arena, the Long Beach Aquatics Center and the Alamitos Beach Stadium, 6 Olympic and 8 Paralympic Gold medals will be won here.