(All quotes are taken directly from a transcript of the LA28 press conference I attended July 14, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.)
Exactly 731 days before the Opening Ceremony of the 2028 Olympic Games, LA28 officially opened applications Tuesday for what organizers describe as one of the largest volunteer programs in Olympic history—a call for 60,000 volunteers who will ultimately become the first faces millions of athletes, spectators and visitors encounter when the world arrives in Los Angeles. The announcement, made at Griffith Park on July 14, marked another significant milestone in LA28’s countdown to the Summer Games. While venue announcements, transportation plans and competition schedules often fill Olympic headlines, LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover argued that volunteers will ultimately define the experience of the Games more than any stadium or sporting venue.
“We have an opportunity here to show the world on July 14, 2028—just 731 days from today—that we can bring together more than 200 countries not in conflict but in competition,” Hoover said.
The volunteer portal officially opened Tuesday after already attracting more than 300,000 expressions of interest from prospective volunteers over the past several years.
“Today is the day that we’re launching our volunteer portal,” Hoover said. “Across the LA region we’ve done 30 events, but today really is the big day. We want everybody to go to our LA28 website and sign up to be a volunteer.”
Volunteers Become The Olympic Experience
Every Olympic Games is remembered for unforgettable athletic performances. Less visible—but equally essential—are the volunteers. From directing visitors through subway stations to helping athletes navigate venues, welcoming international guests and supporting competitions behind the scenes, Olympic volunteers often create the first and last impressions visitors take home from a host city. Hoover said watching volunteers at both the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics reinforced just how central they are to a successful Games.
“When I was in Paris and when I was in Milano Cortina, I saw firsthand the power of the volunteers,” Hoover said. They’re the crew behind the scenes. They’re the crew behind the show. They’re the crew who make it all happen. They were on every street corner. They were in every Metro stop. They were at every venue. They were always happy.”
That, Hoover believes, is the spirit Los Angeles hopes to replicate in 2028.
“Our volunteer program is going to reflect that same Olympic spirit.”
Delta Sees Volunteer Program As A Lasting Legacy
Presenting sponsor Delta Air Lines views the volunteer initiative as one of the Games’ most enduring legacies. Dana Debel, representing Delta, noted that Tuesday’s announcement carried special symbolism. When Delta first announced its Olympic partnership with LA28 in March 2020, the event took place just up the hill at Griffith Observatory. Six years later, the airline returned to Griffith Park to launch what Debel called one of the partnership’s most meaningful initiatives.
“When you talk about a legacy, it’s what are you leaving behind? The ability to leave an incredible volunteer program—an incredible volunteer footprint—is something that we believe very strongly in at Delta.”
She connected the Olympic movement with sports’ unique ability to unite people across borders.
“At Delta we like to say nobody better connects the world,” she said. “And nothing better connects the world than sports.”
Carl Lewis: Volunteers Are The People Athletes Actually Remember
Perhaps no one on stage carried greater Olympic credibility than nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, whose four-gold-medal performance at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics became one of the defining moments in Olympic history. Yet Lewis surprised many by saying athletes rarely remember Olympic officials.
They remember volunteers.
“When you go to the Olympics, you see the volunteers all the time,” Lewis said. “You’re not interacting with the officials very much. You’re interacting with the volunteers.”
For Lewis, volunteering also represents something deeply personal. He reflected on growing up watching his parents devote their lives to youth sports. Both public-school teachers, they founded a track club to provide opportunities for girls and eventually coached hundreds of children every summer.
“I realized I was watching my parents serve,” Lewis said.
“All I saw was service, service, service.”
That lesson shaped his understanding of the Olympic movement.
“It takes me back to 1984,” Lewis said. “I never thought later in life I’d have another Olympics.”
Creating 60,000 Olympic Stories
Lewis believes every volunteer will leave the Games with a story they’ll tell for the rest of their lives.
“There are going to be tens of thousands of volunteers that are going to have tens of thousands of stories to tell their families, their children and people for years and years to come,” he said.
Many athletes, Lewis noted, compete in only one Olympic Games. For many, a single race or competition represents a lifetime of preparation.
“Maybe they will have one shot at it,” Lewis said. They’ll see your faces—all the volunteers’ faces—because that’s who they’re seeing every day.”
In Lewis’ view, volunteers become part of an athlete’s Olympic memory.
Olympic Sports Depend On More Than TV Ratings
Lewis also used the occasion to reflect on broader challenges facing amateur athletics. As collegiate sports continue evolving through NIL compensation and conference realignment, Lewis argued that the Olympic movement survives because of people willing to serve rather than profit.
“What’s going to save Olympic sports is events like this,” Lewis said. “What’s going to save Olympic sports is the volunteers that believe it’s more than what coaches get paid, what athletes get paid or what the television ratings are.”
Instead, he said, Olympic values are built through everyday acts of service.
A Volunteer From 1984 Returns At Age 90
If anyone most embodies the spirit of Olympic volunteering, it may be Paul Madwin. Madwin volunteered during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, serving as a section chief inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony and track and field competition. Now approaching 90 years old, he announced he plans to volunteer once again in 2028.
“I volunteered in 1984 with people who had volunteered in 1932,” Madwin said.
“I’ll be volunteering in 2028 at age 90.”
His message to prospective volunteers was simple.
“You can’t experience it until you do it.”
Madwin called volunteering one of the greatest experiences of his life.
“You will never, never forget it no matter how long you live.”
Olympic volunteers receive no paycheck. Instead, they gain something far less tangible—but often far more lasting. The opportunity to stand inside one of the world’s largest sporting events. To welcome visitors from more than 200 nations. To help athletes chasing lifelong dreams. And to become ambassadors for Los Angeles, California and the United States. Madwin warned that passing up the opportunity could become a lifelong regret.
“If you don’t do it,” he said, “you will remember not doing it for the rest of your life.”
His closing challenge captured the spirit organizers hope will inspire thousands to apply over the coming months.
“Don’t be a ‘woulda, coulda, shoulda,'” Madwin said.
“Be an ‘I did it, I loved it, and I’d do it again!'”
Two years before the Olympic cauldron is lit in Los Angeles, LA28 has begun recruiting the volunteers who may ultimately shape how the world remembers the Games—not from a medal podium, but from an event venue entrance, a transit station, an athlete village or a city street.
These are, in fact, the places where the Olympic spirit will most come to life.
