Mission Viejo : Mission Viejo Recalls Glory of the Olympics

Mission Viejo relived its moment of Olympic glory Monday afternoon when the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee presented the community with a plaque commemorating cycling events held there a year ago.

As the USC brass ensemble warmed up a modest crowd of about 150 in the bleachers set up across O’Neill Road, a lone security guard directed curious rush-hour motorists around the spectators.

After short speeches by officials of the Mission Viejo Co., Supervisor Bruce Nestande and Pete Syracusa of the Olympic Committee, a small white stone marker was unveiled. But the roadside monument with its twin plaques will soon be eclipsed by an even-greater tribute.

“The community here in Mission Viejo exemplified the Olympic spirit,” Nestande said in revealing a plan by the Board of Supervisors to rename O’Neill Road “Olympiad Road.”

Although Nestande didn’t say when the name change would occur, he said it would take place “in a few weeks or a few months time, whenever the county bureaucracy gets around to it.”