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LA Gets Closer To Hosting 2024 Summer Olympics, But South Coast Might Not Be Involved

LA’s chances of getting the 2024 Summer Olympics appear to be improving, with one of the two other competing cities on the verge of dropping its bid for the games.

A Hungarian political group has gathered more than 250,000 signatures to force a referendum on the issue, and organizers in Budapest have suspended their campaign to get the games. Observers say they could completely drop their bid this week, leaving just LA and Paris as contenders. But, if LA gets the Games, the South Coast could be left out if it.

In 1984, there were events in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, including rowing, canoeing, and kayaking at Lake Casitas. Early proposals included Lake Casitas again as a venue, but in the face of the drought, LA organizers turned to Lake Perris, in Riverside County.

With water levels rising significantly at Casitas due to recent storms, lake officials are hoping they might not be out of the running as an Olympic venue should LA get the Games.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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