World Police and Fire Games kick off at LA Coliseum

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Olympic Flame burned bright at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Monday night, marking the start of the World Police and Fire Games.

The opening ceremony kicked off on Sunday at Exposition Park with 8,600 athletes from more than 70 countries participating in the Parade of Nations.

The athletes are active and retired law enforcement officers and firefighters competing in 65 Olympic-style events through Aug. 16.

Some of the athletes have 40 years of law enforcement experience.

"Cops are people too just like everybody else and in their off-time, they're committed to sports and they try to do it to the best of their ability," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

"Sportsmanship is the key to all of this. We all compete and give it everything we got. At the end of it, we slap each other on the back, shake hands and go back to work."

ABC7 is the official media sponsor of the games. Our very own Phillip Palmer and Leslie Sykes were the masters of ceremonies.

"Chief Beck is competing in basketball and in motocross and as you know, he broke a bone riding a motorcycle not too long ago, so I'm going to tell the other athletes that we have a chief that recently broke a hip, but I'm not going to tell them which hip," Palmer said.

Many Olympic sports will be represented at the games including ice hockey and rugby.

For more information, please visit The Official LA 2017 World Police and Fire website.