Olympics 2028: Los Angeles to Host Five New Sports
by Bradley Gibbs | by Tyler Doty
2028 Olympics in Los Angeles
In Paris, we saw the arrival of Breaking (more commonly known as break dancing) debut, and in 2028, there will be more new arrivals have been confirmed.
While only one sport made its debut in the French capital, in 2028, five new sports are set to feature in the city of angels. Let’s find out what they are.
Five new sports for the Los Angeles Olympics
It’s been confirmed that no less than five new sports will feature at the next summer Olympics, due to take place in Los Angeles, USA in 2028. The five sports are as follows:
T20 Cricket
For the very first time, the sport of Cricket will feature at the Olympics game. A faster format of the game known as T20 has become more and more popular in the world of cricket over the last couple of decades, so much so that there’s now sufficient appetite for it to be a part of the world’s largest and most diverse sporting event.
What is T20 Cricket?
T20 Cricket is a format of cricket that consists of 40 overs, played by two teams of 11 players. Each team gets 20 overs to bat. Each over consists of six balls. One team bats for 20 overs (or until all of their batters are out) while the other team bowls/fields. The teams then swap. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
Squash
Not for the first time, Squash will feature at a high-end sporting event. A part of both the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, as of 2028, Squash will be a part of the Olympics.
What is squash?
Squash is a racquet sport generally played by two players on a court, not too dissimilar to a badminton court. However, unlike badminton, the court is enclosed by four walls. The floor is hardwood, while the walls are made from safety glass, allowing viewers to see the action.
Players take it in turns to serve, serving from one of the two boxes, hitting the ball between the service line and the out line on the back wall. All following shots can be hit off any of the provided walls, as long as it strikes the front wall once before hitting the ground. The ball can only bounce once, before a point is won or lost. The first player to score 11 points, by a clear two-point margin, wins.
Flag football
Another sport set to make its Olympic debut in 2028 is flag football. Popular throughout the US, flag football will be seen by a wider audience having recently been confirmed as on the schedule in Los Angeles.
What is flag football?
For those who don’t know, flag football is a variant of football. Not too dissimilar from typical football rules, flag football involves removing flags from the flag belt of the ball carrier, as opposed to tackling them to the ground.
Typical flag football matches consist of two halves. The length of each half varies depending on the league, but in the Olympics in Los Angeles, flag football halves will be 20 minutes in length. Therefore, the match will be 40 minutes in total length.
Lacrosse
Another sport that will be back after a break is Lacrosse. This sport has featured at previous Olympics, with it featuring on six previous occasions, in 1904, 1908, 1928, 1932 and 1948. For the first time in 80 years, Lacrosse is back on the Olympic menu.
What is Lacrosse?
Often cited as the oldest sport in Northern America, Lacrosse is a contact, team sport, where players use the head of a Lacrosse stick to carry, pass, receive and shoot the ball at the opponents goal.
At the 2028 Olympics, we will see Lacrosse Sixes, a version of the game that is played outdoors, with teams consisting of six players each. Play will commence on a 70-meter-by-36-meter field. Each game will consist of four eight-minute quarters. The team to have scored the most goals at the end of the game wins.
Baseball
Unlike T20 Cricket, baseball has featured at the Olympics before, though it was axed from the schedule following the 2020 games, not for the first time.
However, after not featuring in 2024, it’ll be back in 2028, which is no surprise given the popularity of the sport on US shores.
The US is not the only country where baseball sits high on the list of sporting popularity, though, oh no. Baseball is also a popular sport in areas of Central and South America, while the game has grown to be very sizable indeed in Japan, with the land of the rising sun producing some of the best players in the world.
What can we expect from the new sports at the 2028 Olympics?
For starters, a bunch of new sports, means more variety and more excitement. The best thing about the Olympics is that there is something for everyone and in 2028, there will be even more for sports fans to sink their teeth into.
With five additions to the sporting schedule, there’s likely to be a whole lot more drama in Los Angeles, meaning that the 2028 Olympics might just be the best ever. Let the countdown begin!
