IOC executive Anita DeFrantz joins LA Olympic bid

(Reuters) - International Olympic Committee executive board member and former Olympian Anita DeFrantz was named as a senior advisor for the group trying to bring the 2024 Summer Games to Los Angeles, LA24 said on Thursday. In her volunteer role, DeFrantz, the captain of the bronze medal-winning U.S. rowing team at the 1976 Olympics, will advise how a potential 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles could benefit the city's next generation of residents, LA24 said in a statement. DeFrantz, 63, recently stepped down from her role as president of the LA84 Foundation that represents the legacy projects from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. That group received 40 percent of the 1984 Games' proceeds and has invested over $225 million to support more than 2,000 youth sports organizations and continues to provide Los Angeles youth with recreation and sports opportunities. "In my 28 years as president of the LA84 Foundation, we served youth through sports and enhanced the knowledge of sport in society," DeFrantz, who was elected to IOC membership in 1986, said in a statement. "I am excited to have the chance to build a new Olympic legacy for Los Angeles with the LA 2024 Candidature Committee." (Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Frank Pingue)