LOS ANGELES ̶ The LA84 Foundation, a legacy of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, and LA 2024 announced today that they will partner to bring Olympians, authors, prizes, and Sam the Eagle to the Festival of Books on April 22-23 at the USC Campus. The Festival of Books is free and open to the public.
“LA84’s partnership with LA 2024 at the Festival of Books is another great example of our #PlayingForward the Olympic spirit that inspires us all,” said Renata Simril, the LA84 Foundation’s President and CEO. “Most everyone knows the impact that the LA84 Foundation makes in changing the lives of youth through sports. But not everyone knows what historians, researchers, journalists and students are aware — that LA84 is also the steward of one of the largest sport heritage, Olympic memorabilia and digital sport history collections in the world. Our electronic library at la84.org had six million downloads last year, and countless articles and at least 175 books have been written using those free-of-charge archives.”
The LA84 Foundation is known as the House the Olympics Built, and for the more than three decades has maintained tight bonds with Olympians and Paralympians. Combining these bonds with LA84’s world class library and archives containing over 90,000 documents, and with the Olympians and Paralympians actively involved in the LA 2024 bid, resulted in a stellar line up of authors. Located at Booth #139, attendees can expect the following appearances:
• Julie Foudy- Two-time Olympic Gold Medal Winning Soccer Player and forthcoming author of “Choose to Matter: Being Courageously and Fabulously YOU”
• Donna De Varona- 2-Time Olympic Gold Medal Winning Swimmer and author of “More Than a Game: One Woman’s Fight for Gender Equity in sport”
• John Naber- Olympic Gold Medal Winning Swimmer and author of “Awaken the Olympian Within: Stories from America’s Greatest Olympic Motivators”
• Olga Connolly- Olympic Gold Medal Winning Discus Thrower and author of “The Rings of Destiny”
• Shirley Babashoff- 8-time Olympic Medal Winning Swimmer and coauthor of “Making Waves: My Journey to Winning Olympic Gold and Defeating the East German Doping Program”
• Gary Visconti- Former Olympic Figure Skater and author of “Falling For The Win”
• Cindy Whitehead- Author of “It’s Not about Pretty: A Book about Radical Skater Girls”
• Molly Schiot- Author of “Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History”
• George Hirthler- Author of “The Idealist: The story of Baron Pierre de Coubertin”
• David Davis- Author of “One Golden Moment: The 1984 Olympics Through the Photographic Lens of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner”
• Chris Epting- Coauthor of “Making Waves: My Journey to Winning Olympic Gold and Defeating the East German Doping Program”
• Sam the Eagle- Beloved mascot of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games
LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said: “On behalf of LA 2024, we are proud to join the LA84 Foundation at the Festival of Books. The festival-like atmosphere on USC’s campus will be a preview of the excitement that the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games would bring to our community. That’s why we at LA 2024 are so passionate about bringing the Games back to LA for a third time – the Games have the power to bring our city together and inspire the next generation. I’d like to extend a special thanks to the Angelenos who will bring their Olympic spirit to the event, and we hope to have the honor of standing alongside you to warmly welcome the world to the City of Angels in 2024.”
