In a momentous development, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has unveiled the addition of five distinct sports to the lineup for the highly anticipated 2028 Los Angeles Games. This groundbreaking decision, intended to captivate new global audiences, transpired at an IOC meeting in Mumbai. These sports, namely Cricket, Flag Football, Lacrosse, Squash, and Baseball-Softball, were set forth by the 2028 Games organizers.
Under the jurisdiction of the IOC, each host city holds the prerogative to request the inclusion of multiple sports tailored to their edition of the Games. Notably, these five proposed sports had already secured approval from the influential IOC Executive Board in the preceding week, and the session on Monday subsequently endorsed their inclusion via a show of hands.
Moreover, the IOC session also greenlit the inclusion of modern pentathlon, as the international federation substituted horse riding with an obstacle running course, following a scandal during the Tokyo Olympics. This scandal involved a coach’s mistreatment of a horse that had refused to jump a fence. Weightlifting, too, has been reinstated after undergoing alterations in its anti-doping testing procedures, among other measures. These two sports had previously faced provisional exclusion from the LA Games.
However, the fate of boxing’s participation remains uncertain. Any decision pertaining to its inclusion has been deferred, contingent upon developments in governance issues.
Cricket, a sport with an enormous following in India and an exponentially growing global audience, returns to the Olympic stage after more than a century, having made a solitary appearance in the 1900 Olympics. The proposed format for the Games involves a six-team Twenty20 competition, catering to both men and women.
The inclusion of cricket has elicited enthusiastic responses, with International Cricket Council Chairman Greg Barclay expressing his elation. He remarked, “To have the opportunity to showcase our great sport at the LA28 Games and hopefully many Olympic Games to come will be great for players and fans alike.” The IOC, in turn, aspires to leverage cricket’s inclusion to engage a substantial and new Olympic audience, with the sport’s global fan base estimated at a staggering 2.5 billion individuals.
Flag football, a non-contact variant of American football, will bring a novel and exciting dimension to the Games. This development unites the Olympics with America’s foremost sport in its most accessible and inclusive format. In the sport’s previous Olympic appearance in 1932, it was featured merely as a demonstration sport.
Baseball, a sport with a storied Olympic history, was reintroduced to the Tokyo 2020 program after being omitted in the 2012 and 2016 Games. Regrettably, it will not feature in the upcoming Paris Games.
Softball, the female counterpart to baseball, has graced the Olympic stage in five previous editions of the Summer Games and, too, was absent from the Paris agenda.
Lacrosse and squash, both vying for inclusion for several years, are now poised to make their mark. Lacrosse made two appearances as a medal sport in the Olympics in 1904 and 1908, while squash’s quest for inclusion dates back to 2013 in pursuit of a spot in the 2020 Olympics.
The inclusion of squash, in particular, is being hailed as a momentous breakthrough for the sport. Kevin Klipstein, the Chief Executive of US Squash, stated, “Being part of the Olympic Games has been a long-held goal for the squash community, and inclusion will serve as a catalyst to increase awareness of what is already a major participatory sport globally with a long and diverse history.” This historic decision holds the potential to elevate squash to newfound prominence on the world stage.
