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By Stephanie Vargas
The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are set to begin July 26th with beautiful venues such as the Eiffel Tower Stadium for Beach Volleyball, Teahupo’o, Tahiti for Surfing, and the Seine River is expected to be clean and cleared for the aquatic events. Athletes of all different abilities will be in France competing and hoping to win gold for themselves and their countries.
Of the thousands of athletes competing in the modern Olympics, few have come from Inglewood, but their feats are notable and mighty.
At the age of 19, Norman Lake compered in the water polo event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and ranked fourth overall. He was born in Inglewood and attended El Camino Community College.
Twelve years later, Sharon Peterson competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, then once again in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Peterson’s event was volleyball, placing fifth in ‘64 and eighth in ‘68. She was then named US Player of the Year in 1969 and received a Flo Hyman Award from the US Volleyball Association in 1999. Like Lake, Peterson is also Inglewood-born and attended El Camino College before transferring to California State University–Long Beach.
Also, in the 1968 Mexico Olympics was wrestler Rich Tamble. He competed as a flyweight, a category for wrestlers 52kg (114lbs) and below. Interestingly enough, wrestling is an event that dates back to the ancient Olympics before their abolishment in 400 BCE due to Roman interference and conquest. Like his predecessors from Inglewood, Tamble attended El Camino College and won the US Junior College title in 1965. After his time at the Olympics, Tamble was admitted to the California Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The next athlete from Inglewood to compete in the Olympics was Kym Carter, a heptathlete from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. A heptathlete in the games is someone who participates in seven events: 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin throw, and 800 meters. Although she finished in eleventh place, her athleticism cannot be denied as she went on to rival Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s ability in 1995/ At the time, Carter ranked #1 in the World Championships outdoors pentathlon. This achievement made her the first American to rank first since Joyner-Kersee’s reign in 1985.
Reaching into the 21st Century, Inglewood continues to produce Olympic athletes. One of them is hurdler Lashinda Demus who competed in the 2012 London Olympics. Demus originally won silver while Russia’s Natalya Antyukh won gold. However, after some retesting of doping samples, Antyukh was stripped of all her achievements from 2013 and after, with her gold medal eventually making the chopping block. The 2024 Paris Olympics will host the first reallocation ceremony where Demus will take home the gold medal for the US in the 400 meters hurdles event, making her the first American woman to place first in the category.
Inglewood’s most recent Olympian is long jumper Brittney Reese. In her first Olympics games, in Beijing 2008, Reese placed fourth. However, she attended the next Olympics, London 2012 alongside Lashinda Demus, and became an Olympic gold medalist for the long jump event. Reese went on to compete as a long jumper in the next two Olympic games, Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020, winning silver both years. Her accolades don’t stop there, as she has collected several gold medals in the World Championship games.
Inglewood has an athlete that deserves an honorable mention. Before becoming a famous actress, Esther Williams was a competitive swimmer who broke records in high school and starred in Billy Rose’s Aquacade show in college. She had planned to compete in the 1940 Olympic Games but they were canceled due to the emergence of World War II. Fortunately, Williams’s swimming skills got her noticed by MGM, leading to her career in Hollywood.
The 2028 games will be hosted by LA after its forty-four year stint. It will also be LA’s first time hosting the Paralympics. The official list of venues has not been announced but events are expected to take place all over Southern California.
The LA28 Olympic games aims to tell its story through the multiple and diverse voices in LA. This sentiment inspired the event’s logo which has thirty-two official versions as of 2020. The “A” design is interchangeable and created by athletes, celebrities, and artists native to LA, while the “L” and “28” stay black and bolded.
Whether producing more athletes, or starring as a venue for an event, here’s hoping Inglewood will maintain its deserved place in Olympic history!
