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≡ RECORD EVENTS & QUOTAs ≡
While the expected detailed venue plan for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games was not announced, the detailed event program and quotas for each sport was finalized and revealed at the end of the International Olympic Committee’s online Executive Board meeting today.
In a news briefing following, IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) explained that the agreement between IOC, the International Federations and LA28 included:
● The IOC-approved sports on the LA28 program – 31 – will retain the 10,500-athlete quota specified in the Olympic Charter and which has been the target since Tokyo 2020.
● An additional quota of an expected 698 athletes is set for the five added sports brought in by LA28: baseball and softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse (6s) and squash.
That brings the total to 11,198, which would be the third-largest Games in history, behind Tokyo 2020 (11,476) and Rio 2016 (11,238).
In terms of sports and events, Los Angeles 2028 will be the largest Games ever, with 36 sports confirmed and 351 medal events. Tokyo 2020 had 33 sports – the most so far – and 339 events, also the most on record.
There were multiple changes to the sports program:
● Aquatics: The long-sought addition of the 50 m races in Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly were added, as well as two women’s water polo teams for a total of 12, same as for the men. The bad news was that the overall quota of 1,370 was maintained, so there will be cuts to the number of competitors in other events in these disciplines.
● Archery: World Archery gained a desperately-wanted event for Compound bows, a Mixed Team event. Once again, the quota of 128 was unchanged, so some smaller number of Recurve archers will participate in 2028.
● Athletics: Even though it has not been held in a single World Athletics event yet, the Mixed 4×100 m relay has been added to the program, to go along with the Mixed 4×400 m. The 20 km Walk was replaced with the Half Marathon and the Mixed Team Walk event was eliminated. Thus, the overall quota of 1,810, by far the largest of any sport in the Games, was unchanged.
● Basketball: The 3×3 events were expanded by four teams each for men and women, adding 32 players, replacing the number used for Breaking at Paris 2024. The overall sport quota rose from 352 to 384.
● Boxing: The quota of 248 boxers was maintained, but the number of classes was evened at seven each for men and women.
● Football: The already-tipped idea of flipping the number of men’s and women’s teams was approved, now with 16 women’s teams and 12 men’s teams. This promotes the women’s game, in which all players are eligible and demotes the men’s tournament, an under-23 event with up to three over-23 players also available. The overall quota remains intact.
● Golf: The quota of 120 remains the same, but a Mixed Team Event was added.
● Gymnastics: The quota of 318 was retained, but a new “Mixed Team” event of some kind will be added in Artistic Gymnastics, providing another high-demand session to the schedule.
● Modern Pentathlon: No change in the schedule, but the already-small quota of 72 was cut to 64, in order to make room for changes elsewhere (like Climbing).
● Rowing: The quota of 502 remained the same, but the Coastal Rowing Solo and Mixed Double Sculls were added, replacing the Lightweight class events held up through Paris.
● Sport Climbing: As desired by the climbers, the three different disciplines will now have separate competitions: Speed, Lead and Boulder. The quota was bumped up from 68 to 76.
● Table Tennis: A Mixed Team event was added, with the quota maintained at 172.
The Los Angeles added sports have 698 quota spots:
● Baseball and Softball: 234 total, with 12 teams (144 men and 90 women).
● Cricket: 180 for 12 teams: six men and six women of 15 players each.
● Flag Football: 120 players for 12 teams (6+6) with 10 players per team.
● Lacrosse: 132 players for 12 teams (6+6) with 11 players per team.
● Squash: 32 total, with 16 men and 16 women in Singles play.
All together, this is 11,198 athletes across 36 sports and 351 events, with 5,655 women (50.5%) and 5,543 men (49.5%), another Olympic first.
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As for the venue program for 2028, the LA28 statement explained:
“LA28 also presented its Olympic venue masterplan to the IOC Executive Board, which was approved by the respective International Federations and supported without reservation by the Executive Board, completing its final stage of approval. Further information on the updated Olympic venue plan will be shared by LA28 at a later date.”
The IOC confirmed that it will be up to LA28 to announce its venue specifics on its timetable.
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