What are the new Olympic sports for 2028 and which ones are dropping out?

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games reaches its conclusion on Sunday, bringing to a climax two weeks of competition, 329 medal events with China and the United States head-to-head in the race to end top of the medals leaderboard.

With the culmination of the Paris Games, the focus will turn to Los Angeles, the city which will host the summer showpiece in four years’ time. There will be changes to the Olympic program in the next edition of the Games. In October 2023, the IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission (OPC) and Executive Board (EB) approved the inclusion of five sports to the Olympic program proposed by the LA28 Organising Committee.

Baseball has featured at several editions of the Olympic Games. It made its first appearance at the 1900 Paris Games but as an exhibition event, not as an officially recognized Olympic sport. Then, sporadically as a demonstration sport at nine tournaments (1912, 1924, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1984 and 1988) until it made its official debut at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

It was dropped from the program at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Paris 2024. Cuba won the inaugural competition and top the medals board with three golds (1992, 1996 and 2004).

Softball is also a relatively new addition to the Olympic program, making its debut at Atlanta 1996 and running for the next three editions. It featured most recently at Tokyo 2020. The United States won the first three gold medal events, Japan, the most recent two.

Cricket was included in the program for the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris with just two teams - Great Britain and a France side comprising most English ex-pats. There will be a a men’s and a women’s tournament at LA28. The T20 format will be used in Los Angeles - two teams will each have a single innings, with a maximum of 20 overs per innings.

Lacrosse featured at St Louis 1904 and London 1908, with Canada winning both events. At LA28, the World Lacrosse Sixes variant will be played. Teams of six players will play games consisting of four eight-minute quarters.

Flag Football is one of the two brand new events that will debut at LA28. Based on American football, it is a non-contact sport in which ‘tackles’ are made by removing one of two vinyl ‘flags’ attached to the ball-carrier’s waist - one on each side. Each team has four attempts - known as downs - to reach the halfway line. If successful, they have another four downs to reach the endzone and score a touchdown. If unsuccessful on either count, the ball is turned over to the opposition who start on their own five-yard line.

After a touchdown, which is worth six points, teams go for an extra point - by running or passing - from the five-yard line, or two extra points from the 10-yard line.

Squash is the other sport which will be making its debut in Los Angeles as a singles event. It has been a regular feature of other major international tournaments such as the Asian Games, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games and World Games.

Two Egyptian players currently top the PSA world ranking - Ali Farag in the men’s and Nour El Sherbini leads the women’s. As one of the superpowers of the sport, Egypt will be looking to get among the medals in LA.

IOC President Thomas Bach said of the new additions to the LA28 program: “The choice of these five new sports is in line with the American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States. These sports will make the Olympic Games LA28 unique. Their inclusion will allow the Olympic Movement to engage with new athlete and fan communities in the US and globally.”

Which sports could be dropped from the program at LA28?

Breaking made its Olympic debut at the current Paris 2024 Games as the first dancesport discipline to be included and one of three additional sports on the program. B-Boys and a B-Girls took part in a round-robin dance-off with a panel of judges marking their performances based on technique, originality and execution.

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Canada’s Philip Kim won the men’s gold medal and Japanese breakdancer Ami Yuasa, the women’s. Breaking will not feature at the next edition of the summer Games.

Boxing could also be axed although a final decision has yet to be made. The IOC EB reviewed the status of three sports which were not part of the initial sports program: boxing, modern pentathlon and weightlifting. The IOC EB recommended that the modern pentathlon event should be included with the horse riding section replaced by obstacle racing. The same recommendation was given to weightlifting, with anti-doping management