MILAN — Olympic officials from Africa took their concerns about a visa program for entering the United States to leaders of the 2028 Los Angeles Games on Tuesday.
International Olympic Committee members from Ethiopia and Djibouti quizzed the LA organizing team about how fans and visitors would get "equal access" to the U.S. in 2 ½ years' time.
Los Angeles was first on the IOC conference stage among six future Olympic hosts updating on their plans, though the one whose home country is currently seeing the most domestic turmoil.
“It's a great worry. For everybody," a third African IOC member, Lydia Nsekera of Burundi — one of dozens of countries whose residents face restrictions entering the U.S. — later told The Associated Press of the visa uncertainty, "even the (team) officials.”
The name of U.S. President Donald Trump was not said at the Olympic meeting, nor was reference made to his administration three days before Vice President JD Vance is due in Milan to attend the Winter Games opening ceremony.
One reference, however, seemed clear as L.A. sought to project an air of calm reassurance.
"The world is complicated and unpredictable," L.A. 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman said in a scripted speech. "Conflicts within and among nations ignite and are resolved. We are not naïve to this reality. We take it seriously and we will face it head on."
When more than 100 IOC members were invited to ask questions, Dagmawit Girmay Berhane of Ethiopia noted people from 175 countries have registered interest to buy tickets for the 2028 Summer Games.
The Trump administration has imposed a travel ban or limits on entry to people from dozens of countries including Zimbabwe, the home of IOC President Kirsty Coventry.
Visa exempt athletes, not fans
While the U.S. government has promised exemptions for athletes and other participants of major sports events, fans and visitors face their visa applications being scrutinized.
“How will you make sure there is equal opportunity for all who purchase or who register for the tickets have equal access to the visa services?” asked Berhane, a 13-year member of the IOC.
Fellow IOC member Gene Sykes, the president of the U.S. national Olympic body, said a State Department office in Washington D.C. is dedicated to smoothing visa issues for the Summer Games.
Sykes noted the World Cup in men's soccer, which the U.S. co-hosts with Canada and Mexico this year, will test visa processing systems.
“This entire process of welcoming visitors from other countries to the United States for sporting events is getting something of a trial run on a smaller basis,” he said. “It gives us the opportunity to see how do we optimize this.”
From Djibouti, Aïcha Garad Ali asked if L.A. could appoint a similar “ambassador for visas” that worked for the 2024 Olympics: “In Paris that really facilitated life for us as African residents,” he said.
Sykes promised: “It’s certainly something we can give consideration to.”
Olympics to unify
The Olympic Games was “the singular unifying force for the world,” Wasserman said, urging his audience not to focus on “what is frightening.”
“The world does not need another reason to fight with each other. It needs a reason to come together. Los Angeles is one of the most globally diverse cities on earth.
“It is not just a mirror of America, it is a mirror of the world itself.”
Wasserman welcome
Wasserman was introduced on stage with polite applause by IOC members in his first meeting with them since the release at the weekend of more government files relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
The trove of documents included flirtatious emails from 2003 between Wasserman and Epstein's one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a statement released Saturday, Wasserman expressed deep regret for the correspondence.
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