Top five biggest talking points from LA 2028 Olympics event programme

Five sports will make their Olympic debut at Los Angeles Olympics.

The LA 2028 Olympics program has been announced, including not just an expansion of events but also an increase in mixed team competitions across several sports. The Games, scheduled from July 14 to 30, 2028, are expected to host around 11,198 Olympians, where the athletes will aim to bring glory to their respective nations in 351 medal events.

While sports like swimming, rowing, and sport climbing will see the addition of events in both the men’s and women’s categories, shooting will undergo modifications, with the number of finalists in the 25m pistol and shotgun events increasing from six to eight. Meanwhile, the men’s and women’s singles event will be played in squash, one of the five sports approved for this edition.

With that, let’s look at the five biggest talking points following the announcement of the LA 2028 Olympics program:

Talking points from LA 2028 Olympics

5) Women’s soccer to have increased number of teams

One of the biggest talking points at the Los Angeles Olympics is the expansion of women’s soccer teams to 16 and the reduction of the men’s teams to 12. According to the IOC, this change is due to increased fan following of women’s soccer in the host nation. With this, the Games will script history with the female competitors surpassing the male participation at the LA 2028.

Also Read: All you need to know about Los Angeles Olympics 2028

4) Athletics, golf, table tennis and gymnastics among others boosted with mixed team events addition

Athletics, golf, artistic gymnastics, and table tennis are some prominent sports that are boosted with mixed team events. In athletics, the 4x100m mixed relay has been added to the schedule, with other relay events including men’s and women’s 4x100m and men’s, women’s and mixed 4x400m relay already existing at the games.

In golf, individual stroke play for women and men featured in previous editions, but this time, a unique format is set to take place, with mixed team golf being added to the schedule. Similarly, artistic gymnastics will include mixed-gender team events in Los Angeles, where the hosts are considered a powerhouse in the sport, boosting their medal chances.

The #LA28 event programme: a commitment to innovation and gender equality.🏅 With a total of 351 medal events, 22 more than at Paris 2024 (329), the LA28 programme maintains the core athlete quota of 10,500.Discover what’s new!#Olympics I @LA28 pic.twitter.com/8NfYyr2Kzs

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) April 11, 2025

Meanwhile, with the inclusion of mixed team events in table tennis, the sport will now feature all categories, having already included women’s singles and doubles, men’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles on the Olympic roster. Notably, the mixed team competitions frequently are staged on the international circuit.

3) Basketball 3X3 expanded to 12 teams per gender 

The basketball 3X3 will witness more nations eyeing to grab quotas as the number of team slots at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics have been elevated from eight to twelve teams in each gender. This is a significant gain for the sport, considering the event debuted only during the Tokyo Olympics 2020 held in 2021.

Also Read: Sports that will make their debut at LA Olympics 2028

2) Introduction of compound archery with mixed team events

Archery will see a new discipline included for the 2028 edition as the compound archery will be debuting as a sport with mixed team events as the sole discipline to feature. While recurve archery has been a continuous discipline in the Olympics since 1972, the inclusion of compound archery implies the expansion of the sport’s global expansion as nations around the world are expected to vie for qualification in the discipline.

1) Cricket to feature six teams in both men’s and women’s competitions

Cricket is set to make a comeback to the Olympics program after 128 years at Los Angeles 2028, having last featured at the Paris edition in 1900. However, the number of teams to compete in this edition has been restricted to six per gender, with a total of 90 athlete quotas allocated in both men and women’s competitions. The games will be held in the T20 format.

With six countries competing in each gender, this gives top nations an advantage in earning their places at the quadrennial event. However, with the United States hosting the Games, despite not being a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), they are likely to collect one of the six available slots. The ICC is yet to announce the qualification process for the events.

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