Mission Viejo has been selected as the Netherlands Olympic Committee’s (TeamNL) primary pre-games training site for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, the City of Mission Viejo and TeamNL announced today.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our community to be able to support athletes and coaches from TeamNL prior to their respective LA28 Games,” said Mayor Trish Kelley. “Mission Viejo has a long history of supporting Olympians and Paralympians from around the world, and we believe our world-class facilities will properly prepare TeamNL for LA28.”
The announcement was made today during the Paris Olympic Games in TeamNL’s Hospitality House and is a result of TeamNL completing two site inspection visits to Mission Viejo over the past two years.
“We are extremely grateful to Mission Viejo and the City’s willingness to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes prior to the LA Games,” said André Cats, Technical and Games Director TeamNL. “Our staff and coaches have certainly been impressed with the resources the City is able to offer in order to make it a successful training experience for our delegations prior to the 2028 Games.”
As a nation, TeamNL has won nearly 500 Olympic medals including 36 medals at the recent Tokyo Games where the team finished seventh (7th) overall in the final country medal standings.
“We are beyond excited to be able to host TeamNL and are looking forward to the impact the team’s presence will have on our community particularly our children and young adults that will last a lifetime,” said Mission Viejo City Councilman, Chair of the City’s Sport and Economic Tourism Committee and Double Olympic Gold Medalist Brian Goodell. “This will add to Mission Viejo’s rich Olympic legacy from the 1984 Games and will create opportunities for our citizens to build lasting relationships with the Olympic movement.”
Primary sports training in which the Dutch will train in Mission Viejo and surrounding communities include athletics, swimming and possible team sports like handball and volleyball. The final selection of sports will be confirmed at a later date.
Specific training dates are to be determined with the focus on TeamNL conducting training camps as early as 2026 and then again in 2028 weeks prior to the respective Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The culture and training environment Mission Viejo and its community partners have to offer will undoubtably make a difference for our teams as they make Mission Viejo their home away from home,” André Cats said. “We are sincerely grateful to Mayor Kelley, Chair Goodell and the entire Mission Viejo City Council.”
