Not every sport that's been in past Olympics will be in the 2028 games coming to Los Angeles. It looks like youthful SoCal sports like surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding will be included — while old-timey sports like boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon may be out.
The list comes from the International Olympic Committee Executive Board, which this week proposed 28 sports for the L.A. games. The full IOC votes on the list in February.
Alphabetically, they are:
Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were introduced in the Tokyo Games to enthusiastic audiences, and LA28, the local nonprofit that is staging the games in Los Angeles, has endorsed those choices.
The very traditional Olympic sports of weightlifting, boxing and modern pentathlon (which tests athletes in the genteel and costly sports of fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting and cross-country running) did not make the list.
They are not completely out of the picture, however. They could still be included in the 2028 games if they meet certain criteria, like how easy they are to put on, how relevant they are to the host city audience and how popular they are with young fans.
LA28 has the option in 2023 of proposing a few new sports.
(I’m particularly rooting for Dragon Boat Racing, which pits teams of 20 paddlers per boat.)
But here’s the thing: LA28 has to keep the number of athletes in the Olympic Games to 10,500, so it has to make some hard choices down the line.
