The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Will Feature New (and Old) Sports

The Summer Olympics will return to a familiar landing spot in 2028 in Los Angeles, which will be hosting for the third time.

As is customary, the International Olympic Committee has green-lighted several new (and old) sports for 2028 and subtracted another from the program list that was featured in Paris.

Los Angeles hosted the Games most recently in 1984, when Mary Lou Retton stole America’s heart and broke that of Romanian gymnast Ecaterina Szabo with a perfect “10” on her final vault to win the gold medal in the women’s all-around competition at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. Be perfect or perfectly miserable, one reporter summarized her options.

Gymnastics, as other mainstream international events — think athletics, aquatics, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, cycling and fencing — will of course be part of the 2028 Olympics.

Flag football and squash have been approved as first-time additions in Los Angeles, while baseball, softball, lacrosse and cricket will be added after various lengths of absence. Lacrosse has not been an Olympic sport since 1908. Cricket was contested once, in Paris in 1900.

Break-dancing and perhaps boxing will be out. Formerly optional sports skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing will transition to permanent events in 2028, the IOC said.

The proposed budget for the 2028 Games is $6.8 billion, according to chairman Casey Wasserman, and will be completely funded by the private sector.

Flag football, Squash Debut

Flag football will feature men’s and women’s medal competitions, with the teams playing five-on-five on a 50-yard field, the IOC said. No offensive linemen are permitted.

The World Squash Federation had tried for years to introduce the sport into the Games before being OKd for Los Angeles. Squash is a racket sport, such as Olympic events tennis and badminton, but is played on an indoor, four-walled court.

Both sports are considered optional and may not continue at the 2023 Brisbane Games.

Baseball, Softball, Lacrosse, Cricket Are Back

Baseball was added as a permanent sport in the 1992 Barcelona Games and was dropped after 2008 before making a one-time return in Tokyo in 2020. Cuba won three of the first four gold medals, the U.S. interrupting the streak in 2000 in Sydney. South Korea and Japan have won the previous two golds. IOC officials expect it to remain in Brisbane.

Softball has been on the Olympic card five times, most recently in 2020, when host country Japan won its second consecutive gold medal. The U.S. won the first three times. It will be an optional sport in Los Angeles, although the competition will be held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which is the site of the NCAA Women’s College World Series.

Lacrosse will feature six-on-six tournaments, and medals will be awarded for the first time in 120 years. Canada has won the only two gold medals, in 1904 and 1908. Its B team took the bronze in 1904, and the sport was dropped after Canada and Great Britain were the only competitors in 1908.

Great Britain is the only previous cricket gold medalist, having won in the 1900 Paris Games. Great Britain and France were the only sides to compete.

Boxing down for the count?

Boxing has not been cleared for Los Angeles. The IOC has stripped recognition of the International Boxing Association (IBA) for what it said was a failure to address finance and governance reforms, and the IBA has not been involved in the last two Olympic Games.

The IOC has delayed until 2025 a decision on whether to include the sport, pending the formation of a new governing body. Boxing was introduced in 1904 and has been part of the medal program since 1920.

B-boys, B-Girls Be Gone

The purported sport of break-dancing — “breaking” — threatens to be a one-hit wonder after being introduced in Paris.

Breaking is not on the schedule for the Los Angeles Games, and leaders of the sport fear funding issues will prevent reinstatement in Brisbane.

Breaking is considered to have its roots in the South Bronx in the 1960s, and there were four U.S. competitors among the 33 participants from 16 countries in Paris. Japan’s Ami Yuasa won the first gold medal Friday.

“Breaking is my expression,” Yuasa said. It’s an “expression, an art, but I want to say that breaking also could be part of sports.”