The International Olympic Committee has officially approved the event programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, which will include cricket with six teams competing in both the men’s and women’s formats.
According to the approval by the IOC’s Executive Board on Wednesday, a quota of 90 athletes has been allocated for each gender, allowing each participating team to name a 15-member squad.
Cricket has historical ties to the Olympics, having featured in a “one-off” match between England and France at the Paris Games in 1900, where England won the gold medal.
The specific venues that will host the cricket matches in LA 2028 are yet to be confirmed. The final schedule will be determined closer to the commencement of the Games.
Cricket is among five new sports that will join the Olympic roster under the LA28 host city provisions. The other sports include baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash.
Each of these sports will feature six teams, with the exception of squash, which will make its Olympic debut with 16-player draws for both men and women.
The 3×3 basketball tournament will expand from eight to 12 teams per gender, building on its successful introduction at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The Los Angeles Games are scheduled to take place from July 14 to 30, 2028, with competitions held across various venues in Southern California, including the new Inglewood Stadium, which will host swimming events. Organizers anticipate that the expanded programme will maintain athlete numbers while providing more medal opportunities and greater gender balance compared to previous editions.
Furthermore, the IOC also confirmed a record total of 351 medal events across 36 sports. A total of 11,198 athletes — comprising 5,655 women and 5,543 men — will compete, marking significant progress towards gender equality in Olympic participation.
Aquatics will offer 55 medal events, while athletics will feature 48, maintaining their status as core Olympic sports. The swimming programme will be expanded to include new 50-metre races in backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke for both men and women.
Other sports with new events include rowing, which will add coastal beach sprints, and sport climbing, where boulder and lead competitions will now be separate medal events.
Football will make history with an expanded 16-team women’s tournament, surpassing the 12-team men’s competition.
Water polo will achieve gender parity by adding two women’s teams to match the 12-team men’s event. The programme will include 25 mixed-gender events, with new additions in archery, athletics, golf, gymnastics, rowing, and table tennis.
The IOC maintained its baseline of 10,500 athletes while allocating an additional 698 quota places for the new sports. With 161 women’s events, 165 men’s events, and 25 mixed events, LA28 represents the closest the Olympics has come to full gender parity in its competition programme. Boxing will complete the push for equality by adding a women’s weight category to match the men’s divisions.
