Beach cleanup kicks off Long Beach’s first 2028 Olympic Games-related volunteer opportunities

Long Beach, in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy, joined forces with representatives from the USA Artistic Swimming National Team and the U.S. Olympians and Paralympians Association to host a beach cleanup at Alamitos Beach on Tuesday morning, Nov. 18.

The event was the city’s first 2028 Olympic Games-related volunteer opportunity, officials said. It was also part of Protect Where We Play, an initiative by the Ocean Conservancy that unites fans, artists and athletes to take action in protecting the ocean. The initiative includes team captains made up of Olympians, Paralympians and other partners who champion environmental stewardship, according to its website.

“I truly believe in the power of sport, and the outdoors, and nature bringing us together,” Ezra Frech, Protect Where We Play Team Ocean Captain and two-time Gold-medal Paralympian, said during the event. “We need to do everything in our power to make sure that we are protecting those places…especially when the Games, when the world, when all of society is looking to our city.”

Long Beach will serve as a 2028 Venue City set to stage the largest number of sporting events outside of the host city of Los Angeles. The city will have 11 sporting events for the Olympic Games and seven for the Paralympic Games – nine of which will take place along local beaches and waterways, officials said.

Alamitos Beach, where the cleanup took place, and its connecting shoreline will stage multiple sporting events during the Olympic and Paralympic games, including beach volleyball, open water swimming, rowing coastal beach sprints, sailing, and blind football, according to a press release.

“As athletes, we spend countless hours training for moments that last only a few moments in competition; those moments feel closer than ever for artistic swimming,” said Anita Alvarez, three-time Olympian and Silver Medalist for the USA Artistic Swimming Team. “Those moments will happen right here in Long Beach, right across the street over there. The city will be our stage, our home base and the place where we hope to create memories that last a lifetime.”

Even though artistic swimming is performed in a pool, the sport is deeply connected to water, Alvarez said. The beach cleanup is the team’s way to help ensure that Long Beach is ready not just for the 2028 Olympic Games, but for the generations who live, work, and swim in the city every day.

“This isn’t just about 2028, it’s about the thousands of people who engage in our very active beach every single day, and the volunteers and residents and everyone who invests in maintaining a world-class beach here in Long Beach,” Richardson said. “If we continue to work together, we continue this spirit of volunteerism and service, we will have the greatest Olympic and Paralympic Games to have ever taken place.”

For the past couple of days, there has been rain in Long Beach. Storms bring trash to the city’s coastline due to being at the southern end of the Los Angeles River and San Gabriel River. Volunteers, athletes and city officials had buckets and sand sifters in hand as they walked along the beach. By the end of the event, nearly 800 pounds of trash had been picked up.

“Today’s cleanup highlights our city’s commitment to the Games and gives residents impactful ways to get involved,” Councilmember Kristina Duggan said during the event. “It also reflects our ongoing work to protect our beaches and waterways through strong partnerships and community participation.

“We look forward to offering more volunteer opportunities, allowing our community to mix and mingle and meet you as athletes and partners in this beach cleanup,” Duggan added, “because these provide excitement for people and it strengthens our local pride and connection to LA28.”