The 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games promises plenty of exciting competition with the introduction of new sports and new events.
Sports including flag football and squash will make their Olympic debut, while others such as cricket and lacrosse make their return to the Games after more than 100 years.
New events in sports such as swimming, track and field, and artistic gymnastics will also be contested in Los Angeles. This Games' competition will have a record 351 medal events, 22 more than the 2024 Paris Games.
More history will be made in LA. It will be the first Games to have more female athlete quota spots (5,655) than male athlete quota spots (5,543) across 44 sports. The women's soccer tournament will consist of a record 16 teams while the men’s tournament will have 12, marking the first time that the number of women’s Olympic soccer teams will be higher than the men’s. With the expansion of several women's events to match the number of men's events in water polo and boxing, the Olympic Games will be spotlighting women's sports like never before.
What are the sports that will make their Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games?
Flag football and squash will appear at the Games for the first time in 2028.
Flag football is a non-contact format of American football featuring two 20-minute halves. Teams attempt to score by taking the ball down a 70-yard-long field to the end zone, pulling flags from the opposing team's belts rather than tackling them to prevent them from scoring. Both men and women will compete in a six-team tournament at Exposition Park Stadium.
Squash, a racket sport with origins in 19th century England, features two players competing against each other in an indoor court with four walls. Every game is played to 11 points, with a full match played out to the best of five games. In Los Angeles, men's and women's singles will play at the Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios.
What are the sports that will return at the 2028 Olympics?
Baseball, softball, lacrosse, and cricket will make their return to the Olympic stage in Los Angeles.
Baseball returns following its most recent appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Japan won gold over the U.S. in a six-team tournament. As of March 2026, the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela have qualified for Olympic competition. Games will take place in Dodger Stadium.
Softball has been part of five Olympic Games, most recently in Tokyo. The United States' softball capital, Oklahoma City, will host the six-team softball competition. As the host nation, the United States is automatically qualified for Olympic competition.
After its one and only Olympic appearance in 1900, cricket makes it long-awaited return to the Games with six-team tournaments for both men and women. Teams will compete at the Fairgrounds Cricket Stadium in Pomona, California.
After 120 years, lacrosse will be reinstated at the Olympic Games following two appearances in 1904 and 1908. Both men and women will play in six-team tournaments at Exposition Park Stadium.
What are the new events in track and field for the 2028 Olympics?
The mixed 4x100m relay will be part of the Olympic Games for the first time in Los Angeles. An Olympic mixed relay was first introduced in Tokyo, when the 4x400m relay made its debut with two female runners and two male runners per team.
The mixed 4x100m is set to appear at its first major championship at the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship in September.
What are the new events in swimming for the 2028 Olympics?
The 50m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events will be raced at an Olympic Games for the first time in 2028. These three events have been contested at the biennial world championships since 2001, but the 50m freestyle was previously the only 50-meter race included in Olympic competition.
All swimming events will be held at the 2028 Stadium, the home stadium of the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.
What are the new events in artistic gymnastics for the 2028 Olympics?
Gymnastics, one of the most popular Olympic sports, will also add a new event in Los Angeles in the form of the mixed team event.
The 2025 European Championships featured the event for the first time, with each nation's team consisting of a male gymnast and a female gymnast. Men competed on floor, parallel bars and high bar while women competed on vault, beam and floor. While the Olympic event hasn't been set in stone, the competition could be expected to follow a similar format.
What are the new events in archery for the 2028 Olympics?
Archery will debut the compound bow event in Los Angeles. Compound, a modern style of bow using cams and pulleys, has appeared at the World Games since 2013. This marks the first time since archery’s return to the Games in 1972 that a new bow style is added to Olympic competition.
What are the new events in golf for the 2028 Olympics?
Golf will introduce a mixed team event for the first time at the Olympics, with each nation featuring teams with one male player and one female player playing over 36 holes for two days. The event will take place at Riviera Country Club after the men's individual competition but before the women's individual competition.
What are the new events in rowing for the 2028 Olympics?
Rowing coastal beach sprints is a mix of running and rowing along the beach. Athletes will begin the race with a sprint across the sand before rowing 250m in open-hulled boats, returning to the beach for a second run to the finish line. Men's solo, women's solo, and mixed doubles sculls will take place on Belmont Shore.
What are the new events in table tennis for the 2028 Olympics?
Table tennis, which debuted at the Olympic Games in 1988, will also be introducing a mixed team event in Los Angeles. The mixed team event debuted at the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup in December 2023. Men's and women's doubles will make their return to the Olympics for the first time since 2004, while the men's team and women's team events will not take place.
What sports will no longer be competed at the Olympics in 2028?
Breaking will not return to the Olympic Games in 2028 after making its debut in Paris.
Los Angeles Olympic organizers decided against holding the event in 2028 as it did not fit their Olympic planning. The decision was made prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s up to each local organizing committee to determine which [additional] sports to put forward that fit with their vision of the Games,” IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell said in 2023 during a press briefing of why the sport will not be in Los Angeles, as reported by The Washington Post. “Obviously, breaking fit very clearly with Paris’s vision of a very youth-focused urban engagement.”