To Tom Cruise crashed 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 2028:
Sport
For the first time since 1900, cricket will be played at the Games in the T20 format. Lacrosse will also make a comeback after more than a century, with a new format introducing in 2028, with teams of six instead of 10. The traditional American fan base will also be catered for, with the return of men's baseball and women's softball after being omitted in Paris in 2024. Sports make their debut at the Games Examples 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 introduced to the Games, will continue alongside the core sports. Breaking, which first took place in Paris, will be cancelled.
The biggest uncertainty in the coming years will be around boxing, which has fallen further into crisis after the gender spat in Paris. The International Olympic Committee has not yet included the sport in the LA 2028 programme and has called on national boxing federations to form a new global boxing body or risk missing out. More than 50 Olympic and Paralympic sports will be contested in more than 800 events.
Locations
LA will join Paris and London as a three-time host city, but the plan is to follow the French capital’s lead by using as much of the existing infrastructure as possible. The Coliseum, which previously hosted in 1932 and 1984, and the brand-new 70,200-seat SoFi Stadium, home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, will be the most prominently used venues. Other existing venues earmarked for use include the LA Galaxy soccer stadium. The Long Beach waterfront will also be a popular destination for some of the outdoor water sports. SoFi Stadium, in the suburb of Inglewood, will be repurposed to host the swimming competitions, with a sparkling swimming pool added. Basketball will take over the new Intuit Dome arena, opening this month; and events will be held in the San Fernando Valley for the first time with the BMX, skateboarding and archery competitions. The athlete village, meanwhile, will be housed in student housing at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).