LOS ANGELES – LA 2024 today unveiled a virtual reality experience that allows viewers to see how athletes will live at its ready-made Olympic and Paralympic Village at UCLA. The VR experience is available as 360-degree film through the bid’s social media platforms, and will be at LA 2024’s exhibit at the IOC’s candidate city briefing in on July 11 and 12 in Lausanne Switzerland. Next week it will also be available through the industry-leading Jaunt app on all VR platforms.
The VR experience transports viewers to UCLA’s campus and allows them to see and experience the proposed Village firsthand. The VR experience shows the viewer how the athletes will eat, sleep, and train during the Games. LA 2024’s use of VR is just one example of how the bid is future-focused, high-tech and committed to engaging youth from all over the world.
From sunrise to sunset, viewers are guided by the voice of Janet Evans from UCLA’s residence halls to training facilities, dining halls, and leisure spots. The experience is full of epic, immersive moments, including the plunge of a high-diver at the Speiker Aquatics Center. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Jordan Wieber, a UCLA student and member of the “fierce five,” demonstrates the size of a residence hall room by stretching and warming up in her room.
The world’s athletes will feel right at home at UCLA, which already houses 16,000 students from 160 countries every year and has produced 420 Olympians from 45 countries. Centrally located between LA 2024’s four Sports Parks, UCLA’s campus offers fully accessible and modern housing, beautiful reception and hosting centers, world-class medical facilities, expansive athletic facilities, and a professional staff, security and operational structure that serves thousands of guests every year.
UCLA refurbishes its housing facilities every seven years, which means that all will undergo at least one round of renovations by the time athletes arrive in 2024. At 60 hectares, LA 2024’s proposed Village would be the second most compact in the last six summer Games. All residents will be less than 50 meters from internal Village shuttle stops and less than 300 meters from all essential dining, fitness, recreation and entertainment services.
Today’s announcement is part of the bid’s #FollowTheSun to Olympic Agenda 2020 campaign: 20 activities in 20 days to show how LA 2024 would contribute to the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, Olympic Agenda 2020. The announcement follows Olympic Agenda 2020’s 2nd recommendation to maximize the use of existing facilities through its use of UCLA, its 18th recommendation to put athletes at the heart of the Games and its 23rd recommendation to engage with youth by utilizing the high-tech virtual reality experience.
LA 2024 Vice Chair and Director of Athlete Relations Janet Evans said: “As a bid led by athletes for athletes, LA 2024 puts the athlete experience at the center of our Games plan. We are excited to share how athletes will eat, sleep, and train at our Games-ready Olympic and Paralympic Village through our new, immersive virtual reality experience.
“With its beautiful and modern residences, state-of-the-art training facilities and award-winning dining options, UCLA is just one of our many existing facilities that will deliver an unprecedented athlete experience during the Games.”
