Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics

The journey to Los Angeles becoming the host of the 2028 Summer Olympics (LA28) was unique. In the initial bid process several cities in 2015 expressed interest in hosting the 2028 Games, including Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Budapest, Hamburg, and Brisbane. In a historic move, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2017 decided to award both the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously. Negotiations led to Los Angeles agreeing to host the 2028 Games, with Paris securing the 2024 event [1].

It is the third time that the Summer Olympics are held in LA and only London can boast of an equal record. Los Angeles’ bid strength was related to LA’s emphasis on utilizing existing venues and infrastructure, minimizing construction costs and promoting sustainability all of which are core Olympic values during the era of Thomas Bache’s leadership.

Main Venues for LA28

• Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Track & Field
• SoFi Stadium and Rose Bowl Stadium: Football
• LA Convention Center: Basketball, Boxing, Fencing
• Staples Center: Basketball
• Dedeaux Field: Swimming, Diving
• Santa Monica Beach: Triathlon, Marathon Swimming, Beach Volleyball [2]

New Sports on the LA28 Program

• Baseball/Softball: Staying in the program as it was also chosen by the Tokyo 2020 organizers.
• Flag Football: A fast-paced, non-contact variation of American football.
• Cricket: A classic in Olympic history revisited for the first time since Paris 1900.
• Lacrosse: A sport with strong roots in North America and on the programme in the early St. Louis 1904 and London 1908 Olympics.
• Squash: A growing racquet sport that is new in the Olympic programme.

All five sports are already accepted by the IOC. But there is still some uncertainty related to the number of sports in LA 2028. The IOC decided a few years ago that Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing should replace Boxing, Modern Pentathlon and Weightlifting as part of the permanent 28 sports always present in the Summer Olympics, as there were different kinds of problems with the 3 sports to be replaced.

Since then, Modern Pentathlon has solved the problems associated with riding competitions (by substituting riding with cycling), and in Weightlifting, a new international federation president has changed a lot in terms of handling problems related to doping in the sport. The IOC has then approved the two sports again and raised the number of permanent sports to 30.

Regarding Boxing, a new international association has been formed, Boxing World, so that the old Boxing federation (in deep bad standing with the IOC) now has a challenger on the international level. The IOC is following the development, but has not yet approved Boxing as part of the program in Los Angeles 2028.

We have left Boxing in the LA28 program on olympiandatabase.com because a solution seems likely to be found.

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