Los Angeles 2028 Olympics to feature 11,198 athletes in expanded programme

KARACHI: The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will feature 11,198 athletes competing across 36 sports, organisers have announced.

The International Olympic Committee approved a program of 351 medal events, including new competitions in swimming, rowing and sport climbing. The athlete roster will comprise 5,655 women and 5,543 men, one of the most balanced gender distributions in Olympic history. Aquatics will offer 55 medal events and athletics 48, maintaining their traditional prominence. The swimming programme expands with new 50-meter races in backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke. Other additions include coastal beach sprints in rowing and separate boulder and lead competitions in sport climbing.

Football will make Olympic history with a 16-team women’s tournament, larger than the 12-team men’s competition. Water polo achieves gender parity by adding two women’s teams to match the men’s 12-team field.

The Games will feature 25 mixed-gender events, including new competitions in archery, athletics and table tennis. Five new sports join the program: baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash. Each will feature six teams except squash, which debuts with 16-player draws for both genders. The 3x3 basketball tournament expands from eight to 12 teams per gender after its successful Tokyo 2020 debut.