Update, September 29, 2026: It's Atlanta
LA28 made it official: the 2028 Olympic torch relay begins its US journey in Atlanta, host of the 1996 Games, and then travels through all 50 states. The relay's presenting partners are Coca-Cola, JPMorganChase, Allstate, and Xfinity. Delta, the founding airline partner at the center of the theories below, was not among them, and LA28 has not said how the flame will cross the Atlantic.
Full details: It's Official: The 2028 Olympic Torch Relay Starts in Atlanta. The original rumor file follows, unchanged, as I wrote it in July.
The Internet's Favorite Olympic Guessing Game
LA28 has confirmed the big picture: the 2028 Olympic torch relay will visit all 50 states over more than three months and arrive in Los Angeles for the opening ceremony on July 14, 2028. (Full breakdown of what is confirmed: everything we know about the 50-state relay.)
What LA28 has not announced is the answer to the question Olympic fans argue about most: where does the relay begin?
Reddit's Olympics communities have been chewing on this one for months, and some of the arguments are good. None of what follows is official, my own pick included.
First, the Constraints
Any starting-point theory has to survive three facts:
- The flame starts in Greece. It is kindled at Ancient Olympia and handed over in Athens. Somebody has to fly it across the Atlantic, and tradition says the flame travels in a special lantern on a chartered or sponsor aircraft.
- Delta is an LA28 founding partner. The community's sharpest observation: the official airline of LA28 will almost certainly carry the flame from Greece. Delta flies year-round between Athens and New York JFK, and seasonally between Athens and Atlanta, its home hub.
- The math of 50 states in three-plus months. A spring 2028 start on the East Coast, working generally east to west, is the route shape that makes a July 14 arrival in Los Angeles work.
Those constraints alone explain why two cities dominate every thread.
The Case for Atlanta
Atlanta is the community favorite, and the reasoning stacks up:
- The last American Summer Games. Atlanta 1996 is the most recent US Summer Olympics, and 2028 will arrive just past its 30th anniversary. Starting the relay there would pass the flame from one American Games to the next.
- Delta's hometown. If a Delta aircraft carries the flame from Athens, Hartsfield-Jackson is the natural landing spot. As one Redditor put it: no matter where you are going, you connect in Atlanta.
- Precedent, twice over. The 2002 Salt Lake City relay actually began in Atlanta, with a flame ceremony tied to the 1996 Games. The playbook already exists.
- The cauldron is still there. Muhammad Ali's 1996 cauldron tower still stands near Centennial Olympic Park. Picture the 2028 flame starting its American journey beneath it. (That 1996 lighting is a story of its own.)
The Case for New York City
The counterargument is simple: it is New York.
- The 1984 precedent. The last Los Angeles relay began in New York City, at the United Nations Plaza, before crossing the country to the Coliseum. An NYC start in 2028 would be a direct homage to the relay that changed everything. (I wrote about why 1984 still matters.)
- Delta works here too. Year-round Athens to JFK service means the flame's arrival flight is even easier to schedule than Atlanta's seasonal route.
- Maximum ignition. The relay's job is to light up national enthusiasm. Nothing generates a bigger day-one media moment than the flame in Manhattan.
The Dark Horses
The threads are full of alternatives, some serious, some delightful:
- Washington, DC. A capital send-off with full political ceremony. The flame has visited the White House before on past relays.
- Boston. Birthplace of the American Revolution, and an ironic twist: Boston's withdrawn 2024 bid is the reason Los Angeles ended up with 2028 at all.
- St. Louis. America's first Olympic host city, 1904. The heritage pick that nobody sees coming.
- Delaware. The First State goes first. Somebody on Reddit is very committed to this one.
- Honolulu and Anchorage first. The logistics-nerd theory: knock out the two hardest states immediately, then run the continental map. A Honolulu start would also nod to the flame's Pacific crossing.
- Olympia, Washington, or Port Angeles at the foot of the Olympic Mountains. Starting the Olympic relay in a place literally named Olympia is the kind of joke that might be too good for an organizing committee to resist.
- Sacramento. The Vancouver 2010 pattern: begin in a capital, loop the whole country, finish in the host city.
My Read
If I had to bet today: Atlanta, with New York a close second. The Delta partnership, the 1996 legacy, the 2002 precedent, and the seasonal Athens service lining up with a spring start all point the same way. An east-to-west route beginning at the site of America's last Summer Games and ending at its next one is the story a 50-state relay wants to tell.
Route announcements have surprised people before, though. The 1996 relay started in Los Angeles.
However it starts, it ends at the Coliseum, and I want to carry it for one of the miles in between. If you'd back me, add your name here.
