Five sports you’ll see at the Los Angeles Olympics that you didn’t see in Paris

Now that the Olympics in Paris are over, fans are turning their attention now to Los Angeles, which is hosting the summer games in 2028.

This year’s Olympics featured a myriad of sports over the past few weeks, but there will be some new ones debuting in Los Angeles that you didn’t see in Paris. 

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Five sports were proposed by the LA28 Organizing Committee as a package for the Los Angeles games only, and each sport was reviewed and supported by the International Olympic Committee’s Programme Commission and Executive Board. 

The schedule and venues for the sports will be announced closer to the start of the Olympics. 

What five sports will debut at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028?

Flag football

Flag football is one of the new sports featured at the LA 2028 games. The no-contact version of American football requires players to wear belts with flags on each side with a tackle made by pulling the opponent’s flag. The game will be played on a 50-yard field that is 25 yards wide with two 10-yard end zones, and it will be a five-on-five format, according to Olympics.com. Players aim to get to end zones in four downs.

Baseball/Softball

Baseball and softball make their return to the games in 2028. Both sports were part of previous Olympics. (Baseball was included as a medal event at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and softball in the 1996 games in Atlanta). 

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This will be the seventh time men’s baseball and sixth time women’s softball has appeared at the Olympic Games.

According to Olympics.com, baseball and fastpitch softball will be played with international rules, at the 2028 games, meaning nine or seven innings games. Any game requiring extra innings will see runners placed on first and second base every extra half-inning.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is coming back to the Olympics for the third time after it was part of the St. Louis games in 1904 and the 1908 London games. The format for the 2028 games is World Lacrosse Sixes, a fast-paced format with six players per team, including a goalkeeper with four eight-minute quarters.

Cricket

Cricket is coming back to the Olympics for the first time since 1900. This fast-paced format allows both teams to bat for one inning, lasting for 20 overs (120 balls) unless they are bowled out by the fielding team, according to Olympics.com.  The first team batting will typically look to post more than 200 runs, which is more than a run a ball, but total innings can depend on the weather.

Squash

Squash like flag football is debuting in the 2028 games, although it was a demonstration sport at the Summer Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018.

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The first player to 11 points, with at least at two-point advantage, wins a game. A point is scored on each rally with a serve going to the winner of the point. A match can last between 30 minutes to more than an hour, per Olympics.com. 

Olympics officials shared in a release last year that the selection of these sports is the result of a thorough process and evaluation based on criteria set out before the process began, including gender equality.

The Source

Information for this story was provided by Olympics.com and ESPN.  This story was reported from Washington, D.C.