The Olympics are heading back to Southern California.
The 34th Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028, with 11 preliminary soccer matches held at Snapdragon stadium in San Diego. But this is not the first time the Olympic Games have been in Southern California. In 1984, Point Loma Nazarene University played a role in the 23rd Olympic Games and will once again play a role in the 2028 games.
Merrie Monteagudo, PLNU’s archivist who collects and preserves articles, pictures and other items having to do with PLNU’s history, understands the school’s longstanding relationship with the Olympics well.
“For the 1984 Olympics, the British track and field team was hosted here on campus, and the royals came to visit,” Monteagudo said. “And then, Point Loma, to take advantage of the situation, decided to have an international track and field meet. … Hundreds of athletes came to Point Loma for a competition right before LA ‘84”
This meet was the beginning of PLNU’s relationship with the Olympics, but the connection doesn’t stop with athletics. David Carlson, professor of art at PLNU, has curated Olympics posters over the years from various years and places. These posters are now being displayed at the Balboa campus.
“[The posters] are originals; they’re not copies downloaded off the internet,” Monteagudo said.
These posters, according to Monteagudo, are all originals, purchased in-person at Olympic events from legitimate art dealers, some having been signed by the artists themselves.
“We’re working on the audio tour for the posters,” Monteagudo said. “The Olympics owns the copyright for the word Olympics … so we have to get permission from the International Olympic Committee to actually put this content on a published platform.”
Whether this audio tour gets up and running or not, PLNU’s connection to the history of the Olympics won’t go unnoticed, with the poster collection being displayed at the 34th Olympics in LA.
Orton Varona, a third-year communications major, studied in Florence, Italy, last semester and attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan in February.
“It was crazy being there in person and seeing all the athletes representing their countries after working their entire lives for that moment,” Varona said. “It was crazy hearing how loud the fans got when their country walked out. It’s definitely something I’ll always remember.”
PLNU is part of what Varona mentioned: the grand scale and importance of the Olympics as an international sports association.
“PLNU’s connection to the Olympic movement runs especially deep, highlighted by team members like Advancement [Department’s] Kelly Mitchell, who represented USA Rowing at the 1984 Olympic Games, as well as the local stewardship of the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista through the Point Loma Trust,” Carlson said.
From 1984 to 2028, the Olympics’ impact on the PLNU community continues to evolve, create more opportunities and showcase the multifaceted aspects of PLNU from athletics to artistry.
Cade Michaelson