American IOC Executive Board member and Olympian Anita DeFrantz was named Thursday as the Los Angeles 2024 Candidature Committee’s Senior Advisor for Legacy.
DeFrantz will work with LA 2024 to envision and assess how a potential Los Angeles 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games could serve to benefit the next generation of Angelenos long after 2024.
Prior to joining the International Olympic Committee (IOC) DeFrantz was captain of the US women’s rowing team and won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. She served as vice president of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and was elected to IOC membership in 1986.
DeFrantz also served as President of the LA84 Foundation which received 40% of the 1984 Games’ proceeds. Over 30 years the foundation invested more than $225 million to support more than 2,000 youth sports organizations and provides Los Angeles youth with recreation and sports opportunities today.
In her new volunteer role DeFrantz will advise LA 2024 on how a 2024 Games could potentially build on LA84’s success and create additional legacy benefits for the city beyond 2024.
DeFrantz said she was excited to have the chance to build a new Olympic legacy for Los Angeles with the LA 2024 Candidature Committee.
LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said, “Anita has already been an important member of our team, and we are proud to welcome her to this new critical role.”
“Thanks to Anita’s leadership, the LA 1984 Games set a new standard for putting Olympic Legacy into action, and our team will benefit tremendously from her expertise and years of experience serving our city and the Olympic Movement.
“Her dedication to the values of the Olympic Movement have and will continue to serve as an inspiration to us all as we work to bring the Games back to the United States for the first time in 28 years.”
Los Angeles is competing for the 2024 Summer Games with Paris, Rome and Bucharest . The host city will be elected by the IOC September 2017 in Lima, Peru.
