The Sports Being Added (And Cut) For The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

• A total of five sports will be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games (two debutantes, and three returning).
• A good majority of these events play to the host nation’s athletic strengths.
• At the same time, Breaking has been scrapped after an underwhelming showing at Paris; while Boxing is on the verge of sharing the same fate.

With a memorable 2024 Paris Olympics now in the rear-view mirror, the countdown has officially begun for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — which kicked off with a two-part stunt from Tom Cruise and a little more Snoop Dogg.

Excitingly enough, the next edition of the Summer Games will welcome five additions to the event lineup (both all-new and previously contested sports); with up to two others facing the axe.

In terms of the latter, despite how much of a splash Australia made in its debut with our breakout star Dr Rachael Gunn (/s), Breaking will not be making a return.

Though you shouldn’t be so quick to blame “Raygun” (the woman has suffered enough this past week).

Similar to how Japan requested Surfing, Karate, Sports Climbing, Skateboarding, and Baseball / Softball for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Breaking was petitioned for by France. Similar to Karate, the next host nation has simply decided to drop it in favour of an alternative.

Rather controversially, the other sport staring down the barrel of elimination is Boxing.

While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has yet to formally remove it from the Los Angeles Olympics, the sport currently lacks a global governing body.

Previously, this was the International Boxing Association (IBA) before allegations of corruption — shocker — and failures to implement governance and finance reforms led to their IOC recognition being stripped.

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“We would love to see boxing, we want to see boxing on the program in LA,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said in a press conference this past month.

“Now it is up to the boxing community to organise themselves for the sport and for the athletes.”

Anyway, check out the five additions you can expect come 2028 below.

2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games Sport Additions

Flag Football

In an Olympic Game first, Flag Football is set to be introduced at the forthcoming Los Angeles edition.

It’s basically American football (gridiron) meets Oztag — forward passing, fabric “flags” around the ball carrier’s waist you need to remove instead of tackling, and a scoring endzone.

If Team USA manages to enlist its NFL superstars a la LeBron James’ “Avengers of Basketball,” or even tap its rich talent pool of collegiate players, this could be another lock.

Squash

The “I Bet I Could Do That” crowd will be delighted to learn Squash is making its Olympics debut in 2028. Four walls, two racquets and a ball. 11 points a game, first to three games wins.

Lacrosse

Marking its third Olympics appearance after 1904 and 1908, Lacrosse is back for the Los Angeles Games with a faster-paced and modern format known as “Lacrosse Sixes.”

Cricket

Cricket famously made a solitary appearance at the 1900 Paris Olympics. In the wake of Team USA’s stunning upset against Pakistan at the T20 World Cup — with a side of part-timers, no less — it’s also back. And in the T20 format.

Baseball / Softball

In keeping with the theme of stacking the cards in their favour, America’s pastime is making an unsurprising comeback; having appeared at the Olympics from 1992 to 2008, and most recently in 2021 (Tokyo).

Although the host nation will certainly have some tough competition in its continental neighbours, as well as the reigning WBC champions in Japan.

The combined sport will be divided by gender (i.e. men’s baseball, women’s softball), with the competition taking place in Oklahoma City as opposed to LA to make use of existing facilities.

The Sports We Want To See In Future Olympics

• MMA
  Tournament structure a la PFL — restrictions on elbows to prevent unnecessary cuts; allow the action to continue down the road.
  Alternatively: Muay Thai / Kickboxing, which is already on the way, by all accounts.
• Bowling
  To quote the legendary Pete Weber, “Hate me or love me, you watched. That’s all you could do.”
• Snooker
  A high-calibre precision sport that deserves its flowers.
• Darts
  Yet another killer precision sport. It’s basically archery with more math.
• Motorsports?
  Take a page out of Formula 2’s book: equal machinery, race to the limit.