Los Angeles had Tom Cruise. Long Beach had Snoop Dogg. Santa Moncia had Kerri Walsh Jennings Jennings. As the Olympic torch was handed off from France to Greater Los Angeles, celebrities were omnipresent celebrating that the next summer olympics will be returning to Greater Los Angeles.
Santa Monica is all-but-certain (a contract hasn’t been signed, but Santa Monica is listed on several documents as where the tournament will take place) to be the home of the beach volleyball tournament. And while the world watched baby boomer Tom Cruise jump off of stuff to celebrate Hollywood’s impact on the world, Santa Monica had more of a soft touch.
Three-time beach volleyball gold medalist Jennings released some social media with the city celebrating the city’s history as the “birthplace” of beach volleyball and welcoming the world’s most famous tournament back to our beaches. She also made the rounds on local and national news, wearing a purple “Santa Monica” t-shirt and other city-branded paraphernalia.
“Not only is Santa Monica the birthplace of modern beach volleyball, but it was the place to train,” she reflected on the sport’s deep roots in our coastal city,” wrote Jennings in a post accompanying a video on Instagram.
“Santa Monica has always been a pinnacle in my life. Not only is it amazing for beach volleyball, with their 3.5 miles of white sand… now as someone who’s a mother, who appreciates being active and who wants to give my kids the amazing things I’ve experienced, Santa Monica is a no-brainer.”
As a father who appreciates being active and wants to give my kids amazing things, I agree about how amazing it is to live in (or adjacent in my case) the world’s greatest public beaches.
But hosting even a small part of the Olympics doesn’t just mean parties. It also requires a lot of hard work. With Los Angeles Mayor (and Metro Board Member) Karen Bass promising a car-free Olympics; Metro, the Big Blue Bus and the city’s mobility department are going to have their work cut out for them for the next three years, eleven months, and two weeks to prepare.
