In the historic deal, the African Broadcasting Station (AUB) has secured exclusive air rights to “The Road to La ’28,” a 12-part documentary series following the personal journey of African athletes preparing for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The series is created by a trio of veterans in the media. Executive producer Dunjotz is co-founder of Know Associates Entertainment in South Africa. Gary Rathbone, former head of Africa, and former sports chief of SuperSports, Star Times and Sub. Johnny Cohen is the pioneer of brand integration behind the iconic Johnny Walker “Keep Walking” campaign in Africa.
“The Road to La ’28” is positioned as one of the continent’s most ambitious sports storytelling projects. Filming began at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics and lasted for over two years, with the final delivery in May 2028 ahead of the match.
With AUB being a distribution partner and Cape Town-based Moonsport being confirmed as a production partner, the producers said the show has infrastructure to come.
“With these two partnerships now secured, producers are introducing key pillars for the production and distribution of the series,” Jawitz explained. “This is an important point, because African broadcasters are protected as distribution partners and Moonsports as production partners, one of the world’s leading sports production companies, so they are truly strong in terms of partnership.
For Jawitz, the project reflects years of passion. “I have always been very passionate about African art, culture and sports. These are the main focuses of my documentary,” he recalls. “My mission in life is for Africans to see themselves in as many ways and forms as possible.”
In this series, we will introduce the “Gold Protagonist.” Athletes will showcase the athletes who are qualified and most likely to succeed, along with the “Silver Story” of the prospective and their support network, as well as more social portraits of athletes whose journeys don’t lead to medals. “The series is not just focused on athletes, it focuses on the athlete’s world,” explains Jawitz. “Hopefully it’s exciting for people to see stories beyond sports.”
Securing an AUB was important to that mission. “The reason we chose to reach out to AUB is because Africa’s biggest audience is on free television,” Jawitz emphasizes. “Our continent is very unequal. And most people don’t have access to streaming. We wanted this to be as accessible as possible so anyone can see it and it can become event television.”
The episode will air twice weekly on Primetime across AUB member broadcasters over the 12 weeks leading up to the 2028 Olympics. Producers are discussing with “many global streamers” for additional distribution.
Beyond broadcasting, “The Road to La ’28” integrates e-commerce components and integrates with products designed exclusively by African artists. “What we want to do is create iconic brands for the series. This will allow African artists to create works that will be featured on T-shirts and products for the show, giving them even more visibility,” Jawitz said enthusiastically.
Production spans multiple countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal and Botswana. The project represents a major financial venture where Olympic archive rights are expected to make up a significant portion of the budget. “This will be one of the biggest series produced by Africans over a two-and-a-half year production schedule,” Jawitz said.
Although scale is difficult, Jawitz believes that emotional cores resonate across boundaries. “Africans take fierce pride about our continent. We feel very connected despite our very diverse,” he shines. “The hope is that the stories we tell resonate in the sense that people sitting in Mali, those sitting in Harare, and those sitting in Addis can share the joy and pain of all athletes, and the journey itself.”
That sense of visibility also extends to the relationship between the project and the Olympic movement itself. Zimbabwe’s Olympic champion, Kirsticoventry, is currently the first African president of the International Olympic Committee. Jawitz viewed her leadership as further evidence that “The Road to La ’28” coincides with the moment Africa has a “real chance to shine” in global sports.
“It’s going to be a real game changer,” he concluded.
