2028 Olympic Torch Relay Will Start in Atlanta, Hit All 50 States Before Reaching LA

LA28 organizers announced Tuesday that the Olympic flame will begin its American journey in Atlanta, the last U.S. city to host a Summer Olympics, before traveling through all 50 states for the first time in the history of the torch relay.

The flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece, carried through a short relay to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, then flown to Atlanta in spring 2028. From there it heads toward Los Angeles, ending at the Olympic opening ceremony on July 14, 2028, according to LA28 and Olympics.com.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed the plan alongside LA28 at Tuesday's announcement. "Thirty years ago, Atlanta welcomed the world," Dickens said, according to Olympics.com and The Independent. "So, when the flame returns to the U.S., Atlanta will be ready."

LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman called the 50-state route an honor to share with "every corner of the country," per the organization's press release cited by NBC Sports and latfusa. The full route and the process for nominating torchbearers won't be public until 2027.

Why Atlanta

Atlanta hosted the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, the last Summer Games held on U.S. soil. That relay ran through 42 states and Washington, D.C., covering more than 16,000 miles with 12,467 torchbearers, according to NBC Sports. The 1984 Los Angeles relay before it covered 33 states and 9,000-plus miles with 3,636 torchbearers.

Coca-Cola, headquartered in Atlanta, is one of four presenting partners for the 2028 relay alongside JPMorganChase, Allstate and Xfinity, according to Fox 5 Atlanta and Olympics.com. Coca-Cola has been the Olympic movement's longest-standing corporate partner for a century, per Olympics.com.

The Ali moment organizers are chasing

The 1996 torch relay is remembered for one moment: swimmer Janet Evans, then an Olympic champion, handing the flame to Muhammad Ali, who lit the cauldron while visibly affected by Parkinson's disease. Evans, now LA28's chief athlete officer, told the LA Times that carrying the torch again in Atlanta changed how she saw the Games. "I realized when I carried that torch that the flame represents so much more than medals," she said.

Lonnie Ali, Muhammad Ali's widow, appeared at Tuesday's announcement and recalled her husband's reaction afterward, according to NBC Sports. She said he initially thought people in the stadium were crying out of pity for his illness. "I had to convince him that, no, that wasn't it at all," she said. "They were crying because they were so happy to see you out there being courageous, holding that flame high." Ali later called it one of the great moments of his life, she said.

Rafer Johnson, the 1960 Olympic decathlon champion who lit the 1984 LA cauldron, was also the first torchbearer for the 1996 Atlanta relay's U.S. leg, a link organizers are clearly leaning on as they build the 2028 narrative.

The Paralympic leg and what's still unknown

A separate Paralympic torch relay will follow the Olympics, running in August 2028 with the flame originating in Stoke Mandeville, England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, according to Fox 5 Atlanta and The Independent. Organizers have not announced where that relay's U.S. leg will start.

The LA Olympics open July 14, 2028, with competition running July 15-30 across an Olympic-record 353 medal events. The Paralympics open August 15, 2028, running through August 27 with 560 medal events, per NBC Sports. NBC Sports also reported that the "vast majority" of tickets for the 2028 Games have already sold, with the next public purchase window set for 2027.

Financial accountability questions

Most outlets covering Tuesday's announcement, including Fox 5 Atlanta, Olympics.com, NBC Sports and The Independent, focused entirely on the celebratory rollout: the route, the partners, the Ali tribute. The LA Times flagged a separate, unresolved issue: the Times and Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia have asked LA28 for more financial data on the Games, and organizers maintain they've already disclosed enough.

That dispute has nothing to do with the torch relay directly, but it's a live financial-accountability question hanging over the broader 2028 Games that the sports-focused announcement coverage didn't address. With four presenting sponsors bankrolling part of the relay and taxpayer money tied up in hosting costs elsewhere, whether LA28's public disclosures satisfy Mejia's office remains an open question heading into 2027, when the full torch route and financial details for the broader Games are expected to come into sharper focus.