The Olympic Torch Is Coming to Kentucky and Indiana, and I Want to Carry It
I was obsessed with the Olympics when I was a kid. Still am. I am 54-years-old and completely enamored with the Olympic Games. Today's news has me more excited than ever. I may go outside and run a 100-meter sprint to celebrate.
In addition to owning a small library of books about the Olympics, I have some other memorabilia too. I have an official, vintage sweatshirt from the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo.
Look at this beauty (ignore the weird, headless mannequin).
I also own a jacket from the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
I have visited the Olympic Museum and Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.
I have taken selfies with the 2024 Olympic torch in Paris. It's still on display there and it was the very first thing I snapped a photo with when I visited last summer.
And, just a few months ago, I traveled to the land down under and visited Olympic Park in Melbourne, Australia.
I also traveled to Greece back in 2023 to visit the original Panathenaic Stadium, which hosted the 1896 Games in Athens.
In case I didn't make it clear from the jump, I am hopelessly devoted to the Olympics. And, consequently, I am obsessed with this news. As you likely know, the 2028 Summer Olympics are going to be held in Los Angeles, California. The Opening Ceremony is set for Friday, July 14, 2028 and the Games will run through July 30.
Of course, that means the Olympic torch is going to make its way to Los Angeles. And, there's exciting news today from LA28. According to organizers, that Olympic Torch Relay is going to "span the entire nation" for the first time ever. It will kick off in Atlanta, Georgia (the last U.S. city to host a Summer Olympics) and will pass through all 50 states. That means, it's coming through Kentucky and Indiana and we might get to see the torch in person.
More details, including when the relay officially begins, will be announced soon. In the meantime, let me state my case! I want to run a leg of it. Please!!!! (There truly aren't enough exclamation points to convey how much I want to do this). If anyone from the International Olympic Committee or LA28 is reading this, holler at your boy. I guarantee you that no one will take that torch and run through the streets of Kentucky as gleefully and triumphantly as me.
Put me in, Coach! I am ready to play and go for Olympic Gold!
LOOK: 20 Fascinating Photos From the First Modern Olympic Games in 1896
Gallery Credit: Caitlin PenzeyMoog