International Shooting Sport Federation President Luciano Rossi welcomed Will Anti, the Sport Manager for Shooting Sport for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games to the ISSF World Championship Shotgun near Athens, Greece; with both parties expressing optimism for ongoing plans for this Olympic cycle.
LA28 and the ISSF reached an agreement to host rifle and pistol events at the Long Beach Convention Center and shotgun events at LA Clays Shooting Sports Park, keeping all of the sport inside the Greater Los Angeles area.
This came after the ISSF President vowed to keep the sport in the host city after events were held 150 miles away in Chateauroux during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
President Rossi and Mr. Anti spoke with ISSF Announcer Jamie Stangroom, where they praised the warm reception by local organisers at the Malakasa Shooting Range and why it is important to have these venues in the city of Los Angeles.
Speaking of his visit to the Malakasa Shooting Range, Anti said: "I understand it's a fairly new venue, so it's been inspirational for us to see how quickly a new and beautiful venue can come together. The hospitality has been incredible, so yeah, we're super excited to be here.
"The number one question we've had while we've been here is what machine will we be throwing at the Olympics. We don't have that answer yet, but it's very top of mind that we'll be getting answers as soon as we can to the athletes."
Turning their attention towards the future, they look forward to keeping the athletes at the centre of the action.
LA28 and the ISSF reached an agreement to host rifle and pistol events at the Long Beach Convention Center and shotgun events at LA Clays Shooting Sports Park, keeping all of the sport inside the Greater Los Angeles area.
This came after the ISSF President vowed to keep the sport in the host city after events were held 150 miles away in Chateauroux during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
President Rossi and Mr. Anti spoke with ISSF Announcer Jamie Stangroom, where they praised the warm reception by local organisers at the Malakasa Shooting Range and why it is important to have these venues in the city of Los Angeles.
Speaking of his visit to the Malakasa Shooting Range, Anti said: "I understand it's a fairly new venue, so it's been inspirational for us to see how quickly a new and beautiful venue can come together. The hospitality has been incredible, so yeah, we're super excited to be here.
"The number one question we've had while we've been here is what machine will we be throwing at the Olympics. We don't have that answer yet, but it's very top of mind that we'll be getting answers as soon as we can to the athletes."
Turning their attention towards the future, they look forward to keeping the athletes at the centre of the action.
President Rossi said: "I promised that for the first time in Paris, shooting was out from the spirit of the city, but also as the last.
"The great cooperation with the LA28 Organising Committee has been very good. I am proud of this because only together we solve this. Now we go back to the heart of Olympics, in the heart of LA, and it will be great for our community."
The LA28 Sports Manager for Shooting Sport explained why the two-venue plan was created.
"It was a creative solution," Anti added, "The Organising Committee is committed to not building new permanent infrastructure and using what's existing in LA. So we're using an existing range in Los Angeles for shotgun, LA Clays, and then moving to a convention centre model for rifle and pistol, which is putting the athletes right in the action with other sports like beach volleyball, sport climbing, handball, artistic swimming.
"[It's] then getting the athletes back into the village as well and mingling with all the other athletes. So we're really improving the spectator experience and then also enhancing the athlete experience back to a true Olympic experience."
He added that LA28 is "heavily" in the planning stages and observed the operations for the ISSF World Championship Shotgun, calling the rapid construction of the venue in Malakasa as "very inspirational to us".
President Rossi thanked Mr. Anti and the LA28 team for their support so far, as well as USA Shooting and ISSF Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di San Giacomo for their assistance. He also expressed his gratitude for ISSF Sport Director Peter Underhill and ISSF Events Manager Jan Ketzel for their work overseeing format changes ahead of the Games.
"The great cooperation with the LA28 Organising Committee has been very good. I am proud of this because only together we solve this. Now we go back to the heart of Olympics, in the heart of LA, and it will be great for our community."
The LA28 Sports Manager for Shooting Sport explained why the two-venue plan was created.
"It was a creative solution," Anti added, "The Organising Committee is committed to not building new permanent infrastructure and using what's existing in LA. So we're using an existing range in Los Angeles for shotgun, LA Clays, and then moving to a convention centre model for rifle and pistol, which is putting the athletes right in the action with other sports like beach volleyball, sport climbing, handball, artistic swimming.
"[It's] then getting the athletes back into the village as well and mingling with all the other athletes. So we're really improving the spectator experience and then also enhancing the athlete experience back to a true Olympic experience."
He added that LA28 is "heavily" in the planning stages and observed the operations for the ISSF World Championship Shotgun, calling the rapid construction of the venue in Malakasa as "very inspirational to us".
President Rossi thanked Mr. Anti and the LA28 team for their support so far, as well as USA Shooting and ISSF Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di San Giacomo for their assistance. He also expressed his gratitude for ISSF Sport Director Peter Underhill and ISSF Events Manager Jan Ketzel for their work overseeing format changes ahead of the Games.