Mural rebirth: Restoration team brings ’84 L.A. Olympics artwork back to life

The figure of an orange-hued female athlete burst vibrantly from the gray-drab wall on the Fourth Street exit of the northbound 110 Freeway in Los Angeles.

A team from the Social and Public Art Resource Center worked June 25 to power-wash away gray paint rolled over the mural titled “Hitting the Wall.”

The towering painting, by artist Judy Baca, was created for the 1984 Olympics in L.A., one of 10 murals commissioned by the International Olympic Committee in tribute to the historic games’ return to the City of Angels.

“We’ve lost 60% of the legacy murals in L.A.,” said Baca, who sued L.A. Metro and Caltrans for covering the mural.

SPARC, L.A. Metro, Caltrans and a graffiti abatement contractor reached an amicable settlement to restore the mural, officials said. Metro and Caltrans are paying for the restoration.

The mural features a female runner breaking through barriers, a tribute to the power of women, Baca said.

The artwork was whitewashed in March 2019 by a graffiti abatement crew after the mural was vandalized.

“Caltrans should have hired us to remove the graffiti instead of sending their contractors to paint over the mural,” said Car

los Rogel, executive director of SPARC and leader of the restoration effort, as she worked with the team to bring the artwork back to life.

Baca said she created the mural specifically in celebration of the first women’s Olympic marathon, staged that year at the L.A. Games.

Fifty female competitors came from 28 countries to compete on Aug. 5, 1984, with the 26-mile race concluding in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

American Joan Benoit won the gold medal, with the silver going to Grete Waitz of Norway and the bronze to Rosa Mota of Portugal.

That first Olympic marathon remains among the best known. Benoit, the world record holder at the time, made a bold move to the front early in the race, despite the summer heat, and defeated hearty rival Waitz by a wide distance.

The Summer Olympic Games will return to Los Angeles in 2028.

SARAH REINGEWIRTZ — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER The mural “Hitting the Wall,” by artist Judy Baca, which was painted over by a graffiti abatement contractor, is being unveiled again as a Social and Public Art Resource Center crew power-washes the nearly 10coats of paint covering the mural along the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles on June 25.