LA Galaxy legends Cobi Jones and Landon Donovan were selected to the Los Angeles 2024 Olympic Games bid committees' athlete advisory commission Tuesday.
The LA Galaxy and U.S. Soccer legends joined a list of 53 former Olympians from the Los Angeles area at a ceremony in Beverly Hills. Joining Donovan and Jones on the commission are Carl Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals in Track and Field, former Tennis star Andre Agassi, and diving legend Greg Louganis, as well as other Olympic and Paralympic athletes from both past and present. The Olympic bid committee is expected to add more names as they continue their efforts to bring the Olympic Games back to Los Angeles.
In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Donovan, who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, expressed his interest in bringing the Olympics back to Los Angeles on the 40th anniversary of the last summer games in the City of Angels.
"I'm a huge sports fan, massive Olympics fan," Donovan said. "I find myself — like most people — probably watching curling, badminton, and judo."
Donovan also voiced his support for the current U.S. Under-23's who will take on Colombia later this month in a two-leg series that will decide if the United States can qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero.
"The difficult part with an Olympic team is you don't get a lot of time together," Donovan said. "There could be a few guys who don't get released playing for their club teams. It's very tricky. We're at a point now in our development, though, where guys should understand how to gel quickly. They've had qualifying together.
"I hope they get to Rio. Aside from just being successful in qualifying, the Olympic experience is unlike anything you'll ever go through in your life. I hope for those guys, they get that opportunity."
