Five new sports set to make LA 2028 the biggest Olympics ever

By Tom Harle

Los Angeles 2028 is set to be th biggest Olympics ever as the programme balloons to 35 sports.

Baseball and softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash join the Games with influential LA organising chief Casey Wasserman’s five ‘local interest’ picks all approved as a package by the Executive Board.

Modern pentathlon and weightlifting's eforms earned an Olympic reprieve, with boxing on the same road but not yet rewarded with a confirmed place on the programme.

The IOC Session will ratify the Executive Board’s decision in Mumbai in the coming days. Here’s what it all means.

Olympics gets a new look

After a 128-year absence, cricket returns to the Olympics as a geopolitical behemoth.

NFL-backed flag football, highlighted by IOC president Thomas Bach as less dangerous than its full contact American equivalent, was the makeweight in the decision but it seems the IOC did not have to plead for cricket’s inclusion.

Cricket’s return was secured at a dinner shared by Bach and Wasserman at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

“It did not take anything to convince them (to add cricket),” said Bach. “(At the dinner) Casey saw already the great potential and was highlighting it himself. There was not much work to do, if any.

“For the IOC, it is a great opportunity to engage with a new athlete and fan community, particularly in India but across the world. We see the growing popularity of cricket and particularly the T20 format. We have a growing Indian community in the USA so it is very attractive for LA and it’s very attractive for the Olympic movement.”

Bach hailed lacrosse, to be played in a sixes format, as ‘the sport of the First Nations' with baseball and squash wrapped in as part of a package that LA 2028 hopes can turbocharge its efforts to make the Games bigger and better than ever.

“It is a package that fits together fantastically well in terms of the target audiences, the types of sports, reaching out to different parts of the community around the country,” said IOC sports director Kit McConnell.

Bach added: “These proposals have been accepted, taking into consideration that these sports are fully in line with the sports culture of our hosts in 2028 and American sports culture.

“They will showcase iconic American sports to the world while bringing at the same time international sports to the USA. Their inclusion will on the other hand allow the Olympic movement to engage with new athletes and fan communities in the US and globally.”

Despite Bach's signature Agenda 2020 committing to make the Games 'more urban', breakdancing will drop off the sport programme after making its debut at LA 2028.

Two stalwarts saved but boxing waits on

Modern pentathlon and weightlifting brushed with losing their Olympic status but extensive reforms proved enough to cling on to their place in the Games.

The UIPM’s exchange of equestrian for obstacle racing was decisive, with efforts to ‘reduce costs and complexity and facilitate access to the sport’ gaining praise.

Marred by doping, the IWF outsourced its anti-doping efforts to the International Testing Agency and now has a ‘robust programme’ to the satisfaction of the IOC.

Boxing must wait a little longer for confirmation of its place as the 36th sport at the Games, with newly-formed World Boxing not yet able to command enough support to supplant the IBA and gain formal recognition.

“I don’t get tired of saying that we want boxing on the programme,” said Bach. “We have no problem with boxing, we have no problem with the boxers, we have just a huge problem with regard to the governing body.”

"We will try to limit how far we go."

It all means a boon for new sports, relief for those saved and a guarantee of an overspill on the IOC’s 10,500 cap on athlete numbers.

After 11,420 went to Tokyo, conservative estimates on squad and field sizes for new sports show that number soars to 12,000, with final quota place allocations to be decided in early 2025.

“It’s clear we will need to go over the 10,500,” added McConnell. “How far we go over will need to be discussed and we will try to limit how far we go.”

McConnell and the IOC were at pains to put the impetus on LA 2028 to make the sums work and emphasise that the growth does not herald maximalism in the future of the Olympic programme.

“We should be clear that it’s a package put forward by the Organising Committee for LA 2028 alone,” said McConnell.

“It is for that edition of the Games and doesn’t necessarily set the precedent for the future.”

The four team sports proposed will all feature six teams, with likely host nation involvement in each, with qualification systems and squad sizes to be confirmed.

Team sports can expect to be heavily ‘regionalised’ with group stage matches seeded around venues in California, as currently happens with football. While not always favoured by Bach, this approach will reduce pressure on accommodation space at the athlete village at the University of California.

Core sports snubbed

Staring down the barrel are the 28 ‘core’ sports, who had the vast majority of their requests for new disciplines rejected and may now be expected to prune back athlete numbers.

“There are various opportunities to reduce the cost and complexity of the Olympic programme,” Bach said ominously.

Of 16 requests for new disciplines, only beach sprint rowing was added on the grounds that it will not require a new venue or an increase in athlete numbers and will replace the lightweight women’s double sculls boat class.