Will There Be New Sports At The LA2028 Olympic Games?

While we’re still enjoying the action at the Paris 2024 Olympics, we’re also mentally preparing ourselves that the Games end in a few days. To help us navigate the post-Olympic blues, we’re curiously looking ahead to Los Angeles 2028 and looking at the different sports we’ll get to see, including some sports which have never been in the Olympics before! 

CHANGES FROM PARIS TO LOS ANGELES

At every Olympic Games there are core sports which always take place. In LA, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing are being promoted to core sports having been provisional sports for the previous two games.

Each sport has different disciplines (for example the marathon and the javelin are both disciplines as part of the sport of athletics), and there are likely to be some changes to disciplines in LA. This will include adding a beach sprint row, which happens in the sea and will replace lightweight double sculls, and modern pentathlon looks to feature show jumping instead of a run. 

Each Olympic organising committee can also propose new sports, and LA 2028 will have two sports played in Tokyo but not Paris, two sports which haven’t been in the Olympics for over 100 years, and two brand new Olympic sports. 

WHAT’S NEW FOR THE LA 2028 OLYMPICS

There are expected to be around 35 sports in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Including some new or returning sports.

Baseball and softball are back in LA having featured in Tokyo but not Paris. It’s no surprise to see these return, given how popular those sports are in the US. 

Cricket will be an Olympic sport for the first (and only) time since 1900. It’ll be played as the T20 format with both men’s and women’s teams competing. It’s also likely that cricket will be retained in the Brisbane 2032 Games. 

Lacrosse will also be part of the LA 2028 schedule having last featured in the 1908 Games in London.

And the two brand new Olympic sports for 2028 are squash, which has been in the Commonwealth Games but never in the Olympics, and flag football, which is a five on five non-contact version of American football.

Here’s the full list of sports which will be at the LA 2028 Olympics.

HOW ARE NEW SPORTS CHOSEN?

The host city cannot just add more sports without other considerations (here’s a full overview of what it takes to add a new sport), and keeping athlete numbers to a maximum of 10,500 across all sports and disciplines is one of the main restrictions. So far, the only event to take place in Paris which will not be in LA is breaking (break dancing). In order to stay below the maximum number of athletes, there may need to be changes to some disciplines. 

Other considerations mean that events must be established and follow numerous guidelines, including having international federations, conforming to the Olympic Charter, and having anti-doping and anti-cheating regulations. 

The sport must be something that is seen and performed by men in at least 75 countries over four continents, and by women in at least 40 countries over three continents. It must take into consideration things like the cost and complexity of hosting and broadcasting the event, general media interest, and the legacy of the event, both in the home country and the rest of the world.

***

We’ve already wondered what other running races might be considered as Olympic events, and while it’s unlikely we’ll see anything different in LA, there’s already discussions about adding trail running (perhaps short and long course) to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. We’d love to see it!

Image LA 2028