Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Wayne Gretzky are the focus of the fourth and final episode of LA 2024’s “Legends of L.A.” video series, released Thursday and features the two legendary athletes sharing their memories of The Forum in Inglewood.
The arena, home to the Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Lakers for 32 years until 1999, saw Johnson lead the Lakers to five NBA championships while playing there and Gretzky lead the Kings to the team’s first Stanley Cup Final appearance.
Should L.A. be awarded the Games, The Forum would host the gymnastics competition. It also hosted the 1984 Olympic basketball competition.
“As a child, you’ve got to have dreams and you’ve got to have goals. Olympic athletes are so inspiring to young kids,” Gretzky said in the video.
“I don’t think that there’s anything more inspiring than to compete against the greatest athletes in the world, on one stage together. You can’t take away the atmosphere and the history that (The Forum) has.”
LA 2024 is the nonprofit committee leading L.A.’s bid to host the Olympics and is competing with Paris to host the Games, but L.A. could also be awarded the 2028 Games instead.
The other videos in the series featured Carl Lewis at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Kobe Bryant at Staples Center and Cobi Jones at StubHub Center.
