The Olympic Song Contest 2018 was the first edition of the Olympic Song Contest, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, United States of America and consisted of three semi-finals on 9, 16 and 23 August and the final on 30 August 2018. with all four live shows presented by Ross Mathews and Wanda Sykes.

Organised by the Olympic Broadcasting Union, it gathered participants from seventy three countries with each of them performing an original song.

On June 16, it was confirmed that the city that would host the inaugural edition would be Los Angeles, in the United States. No bidding phase was held.

The competition will consist of three semi-finals and a final. The ten countries with the highest scores in each semi-final will qualify to the final where they will join the host nation - United States, which automatically qualifies.

Graphic Design

The official logo and tagline were presented on the 16 June 2018. The tagline was #RISEUP and was visually accompanied by a blue bioluminescent jellyfish. The creative director stated: "In times like these, people must find the courage to speak out, to find their voice. Young people, especially, need to be given the opportunities to showcase their talents and prosper. The jellyfish goes along with the idea of the tagline, in the sense that they always float up to the surface and they are a great way to present the most crucial part of LA - the ocean, being one of the many species roaming California's coastal waters and enriching our marine fauna."

The creative team confirmed that the jellyfish would not have an overpowering role in the graphics at the contest.

Presenters

On August 1 the host broadcaster NBC announced that the hosts will be Ross Mathews, Julie Chen, Tanner Thomason and Garcelle Beauvais. However, the following day, it was announced that Julie Chen will not be able to host due to a clause in her contract with the CBS TV station. Garcelle Beauvais and Tanner Thomason withdrew their bids as well, and were subsequently replaced by Wanda Sykes.

Ross Mathews (born September 24, 1979) is an American television personality known as an intern and a correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he was known as "Ross the Intern".

Mathews has subsequently appeared on The Insider, Celebrity Big Brother, and as a weekly panelist on Chelsea Lately. He worked on the Hollywood Today Live, RuPaul's Drag Race and Live from E!. He is also known as the Eurovision Song Contest commentator for the USA, on behalf of Logo TV.

Wanda Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in the United States.

Sykes has also appeared in Monster-in-Law (2005), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Evan Almighty (2007) and License to Wed (2007).She also voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge (2006), Brother Bear 2 (2006), Rio (2011) and the Ice Age film series.