The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved this Monday the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, which will include five new sports, including cricket, as the main innovation to try to attract a larger audience.
As proposed on Friday by the organization’s executive committee, the IOC, meeting in Bombay, approved by a comfortable majority the inclusion of cricket, baseball/softball, squash, flag-football (a type of non-contact American football) and lacrosse (similar to field hockey, but with sticks that have a net on the end).
The king of sports in India, which is currently organizing the World Cup, and Pakistan, cricket returns to the Games more than a century after a brief appearance in the Paris 1900 edition.
“Cricket has more than 2.5 billion fans worldwide and represents an extraordinary opportunity to attract new countries and new communities,” said Austrian Karl Stoss, president of the Olympic program commission.
India, the largest country to have never hosted an Olympic Games, took advantage of the opening ceremony of the session to present its candidacy for the 2036 edition on Saturday.
With the five new disciplines, in total there will be 35 or perhaps 36 sports on the Los Angeles program, a record.
The IOC confirmed that it maintained two sports that were about to be withdrawn, modern pentathlon and weightlifting, and did not fully decide on boxing.
More disciplines, more athletes
From the IOC they indicated that four of the new five are team sports, something that will increase the number of participants in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
Of the 10,500 athletes who will be in Paris 2024, 742 more athletes will join, so a reduction in the quota of traditional sports can be expected.
The members of the assembly expressed doubts about the universality of some of the sports, about the difficulty for citizens of some countries in obtaining visas for the United States and about the high number of participants, but they voted in favor almost unanimously.
All the sports that will be in Los Angeles 2028
Athletics; Rowing (with the novelty of the beach sprint rowing); Badminton; Basketball; Canoeing; Cycling; Equestrian; Fencing; Soccer; Golf; Gym; Handball; Hockey; Judo; Struggle; Swimming; Rugby; Taekwondo; Tennis; Table tennis; Shot; Archery; Triathlon; Candle; Volleyball; Surf; Skateboarding; Climbing; modern pentathlon; Weightlifting; Baseball/softball; Lacrosse; squash; Cricket; Flag football (American Football type) and Boxing (decision still pending).
2023-10-16 20:04:35
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