The International Olympics Committee (IOC) excited the sporting world when it announced on Oct. 16 the approval of five new sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. These include baseball, softball, lacrosse, squash and flag football.
Baseball, softball and lacrosse are returning to the games after previous stints while squash and flag football will be making their Olympic debut. While the Olympics origins date back to the ancient Greeks, the first modern Olympic Games that took place in April 1896 still include some of the same sports that are currently being played today including racing, jumps, wrestling and more.
Over the course of time the games have evolved with the changing world. But the one constant is that they’ve continued to capture the attention of audiences worldwide, holding a special status as the most elite sporting competition in the world. As society has changed, so has sporting culture, and the Olympics has adapted to fit this by continuing to add new sports as they rise to prominence through a careful selection process.
“The choice of these five new sports is in line with the American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement. “These sports will make the Olympic Games LA28 unique.”
Even in 2023, new sports are still competing for Olympic contention and the opportunity to be represented on the world stage.
The process of obtaining Olympic legitimacy
A major component of the IOC’s role is the approval of the sports that make up the Olympic Games. For a sport to even be considered it has to be governed by an International Federation (IF) that is officially recognized by the IOC. The next step is making sure the sport complies with the Olympic Charter, the 112-page document originally written in 1908 that outlines the fundamental principles of the Olympics as well as the rules and regulations that have been adopted by the IOC.
The sport must also comply with the World Anti-Doping Code and the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competition to be eligible for Olympic contention. From there, a sport is further analyzed to see how it aligns with the IOC’s preset evaluation criteria. As part of a thorough process it is evaluated on a variety of factors, including existing facilities, present sporting communities and gender equality.
The Olympic Agenda 2020, which was actually adopted in 2014, placed a new emphasis on enhancing the popularity of the games which directly led to the push for the inclusion of new popular sports. The responsibility of proposing new popular sports for consideration has fallen largely on the Organizing Committee of the specific edition of the games. The 2020 Tokyo Summer Games Committee was the first committee with the power to propose new sports and they were able to get five new sports for their edition of the games. These included surfing, karate, sports climbing, skateboarding, baseball and softball. The main limiting factors for the inclusion of new sports is that the additions do not dramatically increase the number of athletes participating, the hosting cities have the infrastructure to support these sports and their additions do not add a large amount to the overall cost of the games.
The Olympics and the promise of possibility
Olympic recognition is a widely-esteemed honor that many up-and-coming sports dream of reaching. With the IOC’s recent commitment to increasing the opportunities for new and popular sports, many sports in recent years have reached this goal.
The 2028 LA games are on track to continue this trajectory debuting two new sports: squash and flag football.
Squash dates all the way back to the 1830s in England. While the sport took some time to gain prominence at the institutional level, it has grown in popularity all over the world with courts and local competitions in hundreds of countries.
Flag football has origins dating back to World War II as a pastime for U.S. soldiers to compete without the threat of injuring themselves. The sport continued to evolve over time, sustaining several rule changes and growing in popularity. In recent years, the sport has had massive growth, particularly in the U.S. as well as in Canada and South America. Women’s flag football also joined in this movement, providing an opportunity for women to participate in football in some form, something previously unavailable. The sport’s inclusion in the 2028 LA games marks a huge opportunity for the sport to potentially grow to mainstream sport status and develop teams at all levels worldwide.
Lacrosse was part of the Olympic programme twice, appearing in the 1904 and 1908 games — over a century ago. The plan for the inclusion of the sport in the 2028 games is a huge deal to many within the sporting community.
Baseball debuted in the Olympics in 1904 and continued to be played as a demonstration sport before it was recognized as an official Olympic sport in 1992, where it remained until 2008. It was since revived for a single appearance for the 2020 games but is not returning again till the 2028 LA games.
USC baseball player Fisher Johnson said adding the sport to the Olympics is important to lots of viewers.
“It’s the Olympics, you know?” Johnson said. “Everyone watches the Olympics [and] tunes in. There’s a lot of country pride, nation pride behind that. So I think that’ll absolutely boost it up a little bit.”
Similarly, softball had a stint in the Olympics, debuting in 1996 and appearing until it was removed in 2012 along with baseball. It was also featured in the 2020 Tokyo games and will return in the L.A. 2028 games.
Professional softball player Makena Smith spoke on the impact of the inclusion of softball in the games.
“It will no doubt grow the game in every way, and allow everyone to see just how competitive and fun our sport is to watch,” Smith said. “The opportunities to play professional softball now are available, but not completely accessible due to the small amount of opportunities. But with our sport on full display at the Olympics, I truly believe investors and stakeholders around the globe will follow suit in supporting the game we love.”