LA 2028 Olympic Games to boost women’s sports, award more medals
LA28 Olympics: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, hugs Inglewood James Butts, middle, as they pose for a picture with Team USA athletes returning with the official Olympic flag at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will have more events and athletes compete than ever before, and all team sports will have at least the same number of women’s competitions as men’s, officials announced Wednesday.
The International Olympic Committee Executive Board confirmed the medal events program and athlete quota for LA28 Wednesday, with a total of 351 medal events, 22 more than at the Paris Olympics of 2024.
The IOC also approved an updated venue master plan, which LA28 said would be shared at a future date.
Additionally, the IOC set an athlete quota with 10,500 athletes, consisting of 5,333 women and 5,167 men. New sports making a comeback such as baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash will add an additional 698 athletes for a total quota of 11,198, making LA28 the third-largest games behind Tokyo 2020 (11,476) and Rio 2016 (11,238).
Out of 351 events, there will be 161 women’s events, 165 men’s events and 25 mixed-team events.
“Today marks a monumental step forward in LA28’s pursuit to welcome the greatest collection of athletes ever assembled on the world’s biggest stage in sport,” LA28 Chief Athlete Officer Janet Evans said in a statement.
“We are opening the door for more athletes to compete, win, and live out their Olympic dream at the LA28 Games where athletes have always been, and always will be, the heart of the Games. We are proud to champion an athlete-centric vision that celebrates excellence and the unifying spirit of the Olympic Movement,” Evans added.
According to LA28, the organizing committee in the city of Los Angeles, for the first time in Olympic history there will be more women’s teams (16) than men’s (12) teams competing in soccer.
There will be an additional weight category for women in boxing to ensure full gender parity, similar to the 2024 Paris Games. Boxing was formally a male-only sport as recently as the Beijing Olympics of 2008, but over the years has introduced more events for women.
Two additional women’s teams will also be added for water polo.
Archery, athletics (4x100m mixed relay), golf, gymnastics, rowing, coastal beach spring and table tennis will offer new mixed team events.
Officials said the 2028 games will provide more opportunities for athletes to earn medals in swimming, which will be hosted at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, with the addition of 50m distance swim for both men’s and women’s competition in the backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly along with the 50m freestyle.
Rowing will be split into women’s solo and men’s solo and mixed double sculls, making its debut in coastal beach spring. Bolder and lead events in sport climbing will be split into separate medal events.
Basketball 3×3, first showcased at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with eight teams for men and women, will be expanded to include 12 teams each.
The full event program is available at olympics.com/ioc/news/la28-event-programme-marks-strong-commitment-towards-innovation-and-gender-equality.
IOC officials noted that 24 out of 31 Olympic International Federations requested a change in their respective sports from the Paris games.
In total, 46 new events were requested, six of which were to potentially replace existing events, for a net total of more than 40 events requested.
The addition of five sporting competitions — softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash — will bring the total number of sports to 36, the most for any Olympics, officials said. (CNS)
