This text initially appeared within the 2024 Olympic Preview version of SwimSwam Journal, courtesy of creator Riley Overend. Subscribe to the SwimSwam Journal right here.
Janet Evans was only a 17-year-old freshman at Stanford College when she obtained a name from Billy Payne, who was main Atlanta’s bid for the 1996 Olympics.
“I need you to talk on behalf of Atlanta as we bid for this,” Payne instructed Evans.
Recent off profitable three gold medals on the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Evans flew out to Atlanta to point out Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) officers across the metropolis throughout the bid course of. She later traveled to Tokyo for the annual IOC Session in 1990, when Atlanta — in opposition to all odds — was chosen to host the 1996 Summer season Video games over Athens.
Evans culminated her Olympic profession in Atlanta as one of the crucial embellished American swimmers of all time. Nicknamed “Miss Perpetual Movement,” she received 5 Olympic medals (4 gold), captured 45 nationwide titles, and set seven world data within the pool. Her international requirements had been forward of their time as her world data from the Nineteen Eighties within the 400 free, 800 free, and 1500 free weren’t damaged till 2006, 2008, and 2007, respectively.
Outdoors the water, although, Evans couldn’t assist however discover how athletes’ voices had been being ignored.
“I believe that it’s straightforward to overlook that athletes are an important stakeholders within the Olympic and Paralympic Video games,” Evans stated.
So when former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti and LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman approached Evans in 2015 about aiding with their Olympic bid, she wanted some assurances earlier than leaping on the alternative.
“Once I took the job, that’s what I instructed Casey Wasserman and Mayor Garcetti: ‘I received’t take this job except we put athletes on the coronary heart of what we’re doing, and each determination we make that includes athletes will probably be handed by means of my crew,’” Evans stated. “That’s how my function advanced right here at LA28, as a result of Casey gave me the bandwidth to place athletes first. I believe each determination we make right here at LA28 could be very athlete centered. We’ve got extra Olympians working right here at LA28 than the IOC does in Lausanne.”
A Fullerton native who graduated from USC after attending Stanford and Texas, Evans introduced loads of Olympic bid expertise to the Los Angeles crew. Along with her work behind the scenes of the profitable 1996 Atlanta proposal, she additionally helped with New York’s 2012 bid that misplaced to London.
Evans sought suggestions from athletes whereas making ready L.A.’s presentation to the IOC, together with on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. She requested athletes about their Olympic and Paralympic experiences, envisioned what a village would possibly appear to be at UCLA, and visited all of the stadiums within the metropolis as they formulated their plan.
“It was a tremendous expertise as a result of I obtained to reconnect with athletes,” Evans stated.
In the end, the IOC awarded Paris the 2024 Olympics and LA the 2028 version on the group’s annual assembly in 2017. Unexpectedly, Evans’ 18-month gig became a 13-year dedication.
Now in her function as Chief Athlete Officer, Evans is confronted with a monumental job: arranging lodging for 15,000 athletes from greater than 200 nationwide Olympic committees (NOCs) throughout 30 totally different sports activities.
“Not each athlete goes to get each single factor as a result of there are 27 totally different worldwide federations which have wants, too,” Evans stated. “It’s change into an fascinating transition for me away from aquatic sports activities, if you’ll, and towards the whole thing of the contributors on the Video games, each Olympic and Paralympics. We love Group USA, however we have now 206 nationwide Olympic committees (NOCs) coming to LA. Whereas Group USA is clearly my favourite crew, we have now plenty of different NOCs which have their wants additionally.”
The abundance of present amenities in Los Angeles makes Evans’ job barely extra manageable. Swimming, as an illustration, was initially slated to happen in a short lived swimming and diving facility that was going to be constructed in USC’s baseball stadium. However final month, organizers known as an audible and switched the swimming venue to So-Fi Stadium, a soccer stadium that can seat as much as 38,000 folks. There’s a restricted window to stage each the Olympics and Paralympics, after UCLA will get out of faculty however earlier than USC returns within the fall.
Evans calls it “a behemoth of an train” to consider every little thing her organizing committee should execute all through the summer time of 2028. However she says she’s heard all of it when it comes to suggestions. Among the fixes needs to be easy, like extra towels for the ladies’s water polo crew. Different points like retaining athletes related with their family and friends amid the frenzy and transitioning athletes into post-Olympic careers require extra advanced options.
As somebody whose 1992 Olympic expertise was impacted by her bus driver getting misplaced in Barcelona between prelims and finals, Evans is aware of firsthand how essential it’s for logistics to run easily on what is perhaps an important day of an athlete’s profession.
“I had a 45-minute turnaround to eat lunch and get again for finals,” Evans recalled.
Evans is in discussions with the IOC and IPC about creating a profession transition program for 2028 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. She began a fellowship program at LA28 a number of years in the past after seeing athletes’ resumes lack the expertise wanted to be employed. Evans pointed to former Olympic fencer Cody Mattern, a 2021 fellow who was employed full-time in simply 4 months and promoted twice to senior affiliate, as one of many program’s success tales.
“Their tender abilities and institutional data concerning the Video games is unparalleled and essential to this group,” Evans stated of her athlete fellows. “I do know it’s only a small piece of it, however we really feel like we’re giving athletes the chance to construct their resumes, work within the Olympic and Paralympic sports activities world, and after we all lose our jobs in September of 2028, we’ll be capable of ship them off with real-world expertise.”
Evans says the LA28 athlete fellows will be part of her in Paris this summer time to soak up the 2024 Olympics as a studying expertise.
“Being on the Video games is essential,” Evans stated. “Seeing it from totally different factors of view is essential. Understanding what the village appears to be like like is essential. For me, I believe an important data I’ll obtain is after the Video games, to sit down down with athletes to know the great, the dangerous, and the ugly. We’ve labored very effectively with the Paris organizing committee. We’ve got an excellent relationship with their athlete crew. Lots of it for me is watching it, however then understanding from an athlete viewpoint what it was like for them.”
