Olympians and Paralympians including Simone Biles, Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner, Ashton Easton and Paralympian Candace Cable joined several Hollywood stars on the red carpet Saturday at the annual “Gold Meets Golden” event in Los Angeles.
U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles at “Gold meets Golden” event in Los Angeles (LA 2024 Photo)
LA 2024 described the event as a fixture of the yearly Golden Globe awards weekend, showing how LA can bring entertainment, popular culture and sport together to connect the Olympic Movement to the next generation.
The Golden Globe awards are viewed in more than 236 countries worldwide.
Solidifying the bid’s cultural message the film “La La Land”, offering a classic Los Angeles set Hollywood storyline, won seven awards Sunday including “best picture”.
U.S. Athletics Olympic Champion Ashton Eaton and Canadian Athletics Olympic medalist Brianne Theisen-Eaton walk the red carpet promoting LA 2024 at “Gold Meets Golden” event in Los Angeles (LA 2024 Photo)
Charley Cullen Walter, Gold Meets Golden co-founder said “2017 was our best event yet. These moments that occur between the Globes nominees and Gold medal Olympians, Paralympians and pro athletes are priceless, and we were able to take ten lucky athletes to the actual Golden Globes carpet where they elated TV and film stars who are equally impressed and inspired by their greatness”.
Casey Wasserman, LA 2024 Chairman added, “LA is known around the world as a capital of entertainment that speaks to the world’s youth every day in their language, and on their terms.”
“The ‘Gold Meets Golden’ event gave us a small taste of what’s possible when we harness Hollywood’s power to communicate the positive values of sport and Olympism. LA 2024 has been committed from day one to tapping into our city’s creativity and innovation to deliver a New Games for a new era, and we will continue to look to California’s entertainment and technology industries to ensure that the 2024 Games will offer fans, athletes, and all member of the Olympic family an experience like no other”.
Not to be left out, LA’s bid rival Budapest leveraged the event by highlighting La La Land’s “best actor” star Ryan Gosling’s Hungarian connection. The Canadian actor stars in the new “Blade Runner” movie that has been filming in Budapest for the past six months and the bid’s Twitter account posted a GQ magazine photo shoot set in the city with the comment “Good job Ryan, we hope you enjoyed Budapest.”
Spotted: @RyanGosling posing in #Gellértbath at a photoshoot for #GQ. Good job Ryan, we hope you enjoyed #Budapest!https://t.co/BzJQSRPXii
— Budapest 2024 (@GoBudapest2024) January 9, 2017
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
On Tuesday LA 2024 bid leaders applauded legendary filmmaker and entrepreneur George Lucas’ selection of Los Angeles as the home for his long-planned Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Lucas is best known for his creation of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises.
The bid says that the museum promises a “groundbreaking experience, blending fine art with popular art and pushing the boundaries of interactive digital media, with an expected completion date of 2020.”
The Lucas Museum will be built in Exposition Park, steps away from the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the planned Banc of California Stadium – key venues at the LA 2024 Downtown Sports Park.
Los Angeles is competing with Budapest and Paris for the 2024 Games. The host city will be elected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) September 13 in Lima, Peru.
