After Tom Cruise dove into the Stade de France on Sunday, Paris officially handed over the Olympic Games to the Hollywood state of California. Here’s everything you need to know about the next games in Los Angeles in 2028:
sport
For the first time since 1900, cricket will be played in a T20 format at the Games. Lacrosse is also making a comeback after more than a century, with a new format being introduced in 2028 with teams of six players instead of 10. The traditional US fan base is also catered for, with men’s baseball and women’s softball returning after being omitted from Paris in 2024. Sports making their debut at the Games include squash, after years of campaigning; flag football, a non-contact version of American football with smaller teams; and a new Paralympic discipline, paraclimbing.
Surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing, which were recently added to the Games, will continue alongside the core sports, but breakdancing, which made its debut in Paris, will be deleted.
The biggest uncertainty in the coming years will be boxing, which fell into even deeper crisis after the gender dispute in Paris. The International Olympic Committee has so far not included the sport in the LA 2028 program and has called on national boxing federations to create a new global boxing federation or risk being left out. More than 50 Olympic and Paralympic sports are contested in more than 800 competitions.
Venues
This is LA’s third time hosting the Games, joining Paris and London, but the plan is to follow the French capital’s lead and use as much existing infrastructure as possible. The Coliseum, which hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984, and the brand-new SoFi Stadium, a 70,200-seat home of the NFL Rams and Chargers, will be the most commonly used venues. Other existing sites slated for use include the LA Galaxy’s football stadium. The Long Beach waterfront will also be a popular draw for some of the outdoor water sports. SoFi Stadium in the suburb of Inglewood will be remodeled for the swimming events and will include a magnificent pool. Basketball will be played at the new Intuit Dome arena, opening this month; and the BMX, skateboarding and archery competitions will be the first events held in the San Fernando Valley. The athletes’ village will be located in a student dormitory at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
