As Los Angeles gets ready to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in four years, more than 20 million people who call Southern California home may have an opportunity to be part of the international sporting event by becoming a volunteer.
But as we learned from the volunteer recruitment process in Paris, the volunteer application process appears to be quite competitive.
After more more than 300,000 people from around the world applied to become volunteers in the Paris Olympics, only about 15% of them – 45,000 – were selected to serve various supporting roles.
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Volunteer qualifications
LA28 organizers have not announced details about the volunteer programs yet, but based on what we learned from the Paris Olympics, applicants must be at least 18 years old at the beginning of the Olympic year and be available to work for about three to four weeks – 10 days before the opening of the Athlete’s Village and two days after the closing ceremony.
During the 2024 Olympics, selected volunteers spoke English and/or French. Organizers behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are also looking for bilingual volunteers who can speak and understand English and/or Italian.
Given more than one third of Los Angeles residents are foreign-born, bilingual applicants are likely to have a competitive edge.
As LA28 organizers fine-tune details, they encourage interested people to sign up for the LA28 newsletter for updates.
What do volunteers do?
Volunteers may be assigned to support in the areas of hospitality, event operations, language and more.
Those who support hospitality and operations may be asked to welcome guests, athletes and delegations, making sure the organizational process runs smoothly with property equipment.
Volunteers who provide support at competition venues may be asked to pick up balls, set up starting blocks and more.
For the Milan Cortina Olympics, linguistic volunteers are being sought “to ensure that spectators and stakeholders from all over the world have an incredible time.”
Can I get paid while helping put together LA28?
Yes, LA28 is looking to fill a number of roles in helping put together the 2028 Olympics.
For an updated job listing with LA28, see here.
How do I reserve tickets to the competitions?
There are no tickets on sale for the 2028 Olympics yet. But LA28 is encouraging fans to sign up for the official hospitality packages as soon as they go live.
