The run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics officially began on Sunday night with a closing ceremony at the Stade de France featuring a “death-defying stunt” by Tom Cruise – who repelled off the stadium to collect the Olympic flag before riding off to LA through the streets of Paris – with performances by California emissaries Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
But for more than a few American athletes, the countdown to LA 2028 began at some point over the past two weeks after their business here in Paris was finished and they began openly weighing their own missions impossible: extending their careers for a chance to compete in an Olympics on home soil when they might otherwise be riding off into the sunset.
