Los Angeles primed to host 2024 Summer Olympics

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee formally asking that L.A. be considered in the bids to host the 2024 summer games - which if accepted, would be the city’s third gig following the 1932 and 1984 Olympics.

Relations between the U.S. and the International Olympic Committee had cooled over a disagreement about sharing sponsorship revenue that flows largely from American corporations. After Chicago was ousted early in voting for 2016 — Rio de Janeiro eventually won — the USOC skipped the 2020 bidding process.

Now, with a new revenue-sharing plan in place, Los Angeles officials believe they have a shot.

Pictured above are some of the highlights of those two previous Summer Olympics.

Photos: Georges Bendrihem / AFP/Getty Images, Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times archives

Olympic Games and the tricky science of telling men from women: Gender tests may be the most controversial obstacle the athletes face. The London Games tries a new approach based on testosterone.

Consider the Spanish hurdler Maria Jose Martinez-Patiño. A gender test revealed that she had a Y chromosome, which normally makes a person male. She also had complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, or CAIS, which prevented her body from responding properly to testosterone and caused her to develop as a woman.

… For the London Games, officials are going by a new set of rules that shifts the focus from DNA to testosterone, a hormone that aids muscle development, endurance and speed.

To a group of increasingly vocal skeptics, the very notion of gender testing is flawed and efforts to measure it biologically are doomed to fail. But some experts said they had to try anyway.

Photo: South Africa’s Caster Semenya, center, was singled out for gender testing at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin. She eventually was cleared to compete. Credit: Martin Meissner / Associated Press

Outcry baffles Chinese maker of U.S. uniforms: Li Guilian built Dayang Trands into a $300-million company. “We have cheaper costs here so you can have cheaper prices in America,” she says.

Descended from a long line of farmers, the country girl spotted opportunity 33 years ago as Communist China was beginning to test free-market reforms. She opened an apron and tablecloth factory in her home village of Yangshufang, gradually shifting to more complex garments.

Fascinating, fascinating piece on culture and economy. What do you guys think?

Photo: U.S. athletes, from left, swimmer Ryan Lochte, decathlete Bryan Clay, rower Giuseppe Lanzone and soccer player Heather Mitts model the U.S. Olympic uniforms made by Chinese firm Dayang Trands. Credit: Associated Press

When you knock someone’s head off, look like a lady: Women boxers fight in shorts, singlets and headgear similar to the men. But some in the International Amateur Boxing Assn. want them in skirts for the Olympics. “This is absurd,” complained Patricia Manuel.

Photo: Patricia Manuel celebrates after a bout. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Five Southern California athletes with diverse backgrounds will be trying to make the U.S. Olympic team. With just over a year to go before the opening ceremony, here are their stories.

Photo: Olympic boxing hopeful Patricia Manuel stands her ground in Wilmington. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times