New – and rejected - sports in the 2028 Olympics

The2028OlympicswillfeaturetheOlympicdebutsofflagfootballandsquash,andthereturnofbaseball/softball,cricket and lacrosse

TheLA28OrganizingCommitteeproposedfiveadditionalsports,allapprovedbytheInternationalOlympicCommittee(IOC),expandingtheOlympicprogramto36sportsand351      medalevents.Theseinclude:

1.FlagFootball:MakingitsOlympicdebut,thisisalimited-   contactversionofAmericanfootballplayedinafive-on-fiveformat.Playersremoveflagsfromopponentsinsteadoftackling,andbothmen’sandwomen’seventswillbeheld.

Flag footballis a variant ofgridiron football(American footballorCanadian footballdepending on location) where, instead oftacklingplayers to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end adown. In flag football, contact is limited between players. The sport has a strong amateur following with several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations but is most popularly played in America where it was invented.

The best available records to date point to the early 1940s duringWorld War IIas the sport's starting point.The game began as a recreational sport created for American military personnel to help them stay fit but was designed in a way that would help prevent them from becoming injured during wartime. At the time it was called "Touch and Tail football", which then became "flag football" after the war ended

2.Squash:DebutingattheOlympics,squashisafast- pacedindoorracketsportplayedinenclosedcourts.Matchesareplayedto11pointspergame,withthefirsttowinthreegamestakingthematch. 

Squash, sometimes called squash rackets, is aracketsportplayed by two (singles) or four players (doubles) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow, rubber ball. The players alternate striking the ball with their rackets, directing it onto the playable surfaces of the four walls of the court. The object of the game is to hit the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. There are about 20 million people who play squash regularly worldwide in over 185 countries.

3.Baseball/Softball:ReturningafterTokyo2020,baseball(men)andsoftball(women)willbeheldasseparateevents.GameswilltakeplaceinOklahomaCity,utilizingexistingfacilities. 

Back before there were international and national federations determining the rules for baseball; every town, in every city, played by their own rules. But by the mid-1840s, two distinct versions of baseball had emerged, Knickerbocker Rules, which closely resembles baseball as it is known today, and Town Ball, or The Massachusetts Game, which maintains closer ties to the game of rounder.

Alexander Cartwright is credited with establishing Knickerbocker Rules on Sept. 23, 1845. The term Knickerbocker was used as that was the name of Cartwright's baseball team. The original Knickerbocker Rules were a list of 20 items, some of which are still being used. The first-known baseball game to be played using Knickerbocker Rules occurred in 1846, as the New York Baseball Club defeated the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York City.

While baseball played under Knickerbocker Rules was gaining popularity in New York, Town Ball was still being played elsewhere. In 1858, The Massachusetts Association of Base Ball Players formalized a set of rules for Town Ball, which became known as the Massachusetts Game, or Massachusetts Rules. Even though Knickerbocker Rules had been established earlier, not everybody was eager to give up their version of baseball. The first college baseball game was played between Williams College and Amherst College in 1859 using Massachusetts Rules.

The first organized baseball league was the National Association of Base Ball Players, which was established in 1858. Although the league was intended to be for amateurs, some players were quietly paid under the table or were hired by the team's sponsors. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first known professional team and complied a 65-0 record.

The game of softball was born almost by accident, as it occurred after the traditional Harvard vs. Yale football game on Thanksgiving Day 1887 at Chicago's Farragut Boat Club, where fans of both teams had gathered to hear the score. A Yale supporter tossed a boxing glove at a Harvard fan in good fun, and the Harvard fan hit the glove away with a broom handle and an idea was born. A man named George Hancock witnessed the incident and tied a boxing glove to be used as the ball and the first game took place that day.

The game of softball enjoyed instant popularity in Chicago, as it could be played indoors or outdoors, and the sport gradually expanded to other regions. The game gained acceptance in Minneapolis when fireman Lewis Rober used the game at his station and the sport was adopted by the Minneapolis Park Board in 1913. The Amateur Softball Association was created in 1933 and helped create a standard of rules to be used for the game.

4.Cricket(T20format):Cricketreturnsforthefirsttimesince1900,playedintheTwenty20formatwith11playersperteam.Thisshorterformatallowsforasingle-inningsmatchof20oversperside. 

Cricket was created duringSaxonorNormantimes by children living in theWeald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England that lies acrossKentandSussexThe first definite written reference is from the end of the 16th century. 

There have been several speculations about the game's origins, including some that it was created in France or Flanders. The earliest of these speculative references is from 1300 and concerns the futureKing Edward IIplaying at "creag and other games" in bothWestminsterandNewenden. It has been suggested that "creag" was anOld Englishword for cricket, but expert opinion is that it was an early spelling of "craic", meaning "fun and games in general".

It is generally believed that cricket survived as a children's game for many generations before it was increasingly taken up by adults around the beginning of the 17th century. Possibly cricket was derived frombowls, assuming bowls is the older sport, by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away. Playing on sheep-grazed land or in clearings, the original implements may have been a matted lump of sheep's wool (or even a stone or a small lump of wood) as the ball; a stick or a crook or another farm tool as the bat; and a stool or a tree stump or a gate (e.g., awicket gate) as the wicket.

5.Lacrosse(Sixesformat):Returningforthefirsttimesince1908,lacrossewillbeplayedintheSixesformat,afaster-paced,smaller-teamversionoftraditionalfieldlacrossewithsixplayersperside.

Lacrossehas its origins in a tribal game played primarily by North-eastern and South-eastern Indigenous nations. It was also played by somePlains Indianstribes in what is now the United States of America andCanada. The game was extensively modified by European settlers to create its current collegiate and professional form.

The Indigenous game was played on a large scale sometimes involving hundreds of men. The game began with the ball being tossed into the air and the two sides rushing to catch it. Because of the large number of players involved, these games generally tended to involve a huge mob of players swarming the ball and slowly moving across the field. Passing the ball was thought of as a trick, and it was seen as cowardly to dodge an opponent. Years later lacrosse is still a popular sport played all over the world. The Indigenous people would wear their normal clothes while playing the game. Using a wooden stick, they would play the game with 100–1000 players on each team, on 1.5- to 2-kilometer fields

ThesesportswerechosentoreflectAmericansportsculturewhileengagingglobalaudiences.FlagfootballandsquashareOlympicdebuts,whilebaseball/softball,cricket,andlacrossearereturningafterlongabsences,someoveracentury.Theinclusionofthesesportsaimstoattractnewathletesandfans,expanddigitalengagement,andshowcasediversesporting             traditions. 

DroppedSports include Breaking(breakdancing)which willnotreturnafteritsdebutinParis2024.Karate,motorsport,andkickboxingwerealsonotincluded. 

CoreSportsUpdates:Sportclimbing,skateboarding,andsurfing,introducedinTokyo2020,havebeenpromotedtocoresportsforfutureGames.

The2028OlympicsinLosAngeleswillrunfromJuly14toJuly30,2028,markingthecity’sthirdtimehostingtheGames.ThesenewandreturningsportswillmakeLA28oneofthe   mostdiverseandathlete-focusedOlympicprogramsinhistory.