LA's Schedule Shift

Over my last few posts, I've alluded to the 2028 Olympic schedule.  More specifically, how the necessary decision to flip swimming and track & field will have a ripple effect on so many other sports.  So, I'll wrap up my flurry of Olympic posts by talking about 2028 and some of the changes they'll have to make as a result of the swimming/track & field switch.

Normally, water polo moves to the pool used for swimming during the second week of the Games.  Moving to the larger pool allows them to have bigger crowds for the medal games, but it also frees up the water polo pool for artistic swimming, which doesn't typically start until after swimming ends and water polo moves.  In 2028, however, that won't be possible.  Water polo can't move once swimming's over, thus artistic swimming can't wait until water polo moves.

It also seems highly unlikely that they'll move artistic swimming to the first week and have it in SoFi Stadium before swimming.  The whole reason they changed the schedule is because they'll need a few days to turn the venue over after it hosts the Opening Ceremony.  The Opening Ceremony is on Friday night and swimming starts a week later.  That's not enough time.  So, artistic swimming will have to be scheduled around water polo.  It's doable, but they play six water polo games in a day during the men's tournament, so it's gonna be tight and make for some very busy days/early start times.  Fortunately, diving's at a separate facility, so they don't need to schedule around diving, too.

Open water swimming is also typically held during the second week after pool swimming is over.  That, too, will have to be changed.  There are swimmers who compete in both open water & pool events (although, I wonder how many if open water is first), so the only way to allow for that double is to move the open water events to the beginning of the Games.  My guess would be Monday & Tuesday.

Those first few days are typically when the triathlons take place.  However, since open water swimming and triathlon are usually held in the same venue (and will be again in Los Angeles), that means the triathlons will need to move later.  Does that push the individual men's and women's triathlons to the middle weekend?  Or does that put the triathlon mixed relay very late in the Games?

Don't think the track & field schedule change won't have a lasting impact, though.  The start/finish line for the marathons and race walks is the same, and is also the start/finish line for road cycling.  They've already said that, even with the majority of the track & field program taking place during the first week of the Olympics, the marathons will retain their traditional places on the final weekend.  My guess is they'll keep the same schedule as Paris, with one on Saturday and the other on Sunday.

As for the race walks, I wouldn't be surprised if they're held at the beginning with the rest of the track & field program.  You probably hold both the men's and women's 20K walks on the same day, probably the opening weekend, then the mixed marathon walk relay a few days later.  I don't see any other way to do it.  Because there are four road cycling events that need to be scheduled, too.

Since the final weekend is already taken by the marathons, and I've got the race walks taking place on the opening weekend, that leaves the middle weekend for road cycling.  The men's road race takes six hours, so there's nothing else taking place that day.  It would make sense to have it on the middle Saturday, followed by the women's road race on the middle Sunday.  In Paris, they gave them a full week between the time trials and the road races, but I don't see a way to do that here.  Instead, I'm having the road races on Thursday.

I've also long thought that the Olympic cycling schedule was backwards anyway.  Road cycling is first, with track cycling during the second week (the last track cycling finals are always on the final day).  I've always thought that was odd since the male road cyclists are always going directly from the Tour de France to the Olympics.  So, why not give them some extra time and have the track cycling events first, then the road cycling events at the end?

Some cyclists compete in different disciplines at the Olympics.  Kristen Faulker and Chloe Dygert both won medals in both road & track cycling in Paris (Faulker won gold in both).  So, road and track have to be separated.  Some also compete in mountain biking, as well, so mountain biking will need to be scheduled around the other two.  BMX is less of a concern since those athletes don't typically compete in the other disciplines, but you still want to work the schedule around the others and limit the overlap.

When BMX is scheduled matters because it's set to share a venue with skateboarding and archery.  The archery competition takes several days and is in a different portion of the shared facility, so that's not much of a concern.  BMX freestyle and park skateboarding literally use the same course, though.  Street has been the first skateboarding event at each of the two Olympics in which the sport has been included, but do you reverse that in LA if necessary so that the freestyle course is available for BMX?

Most of the other shared facilities should cause no issues.  Rowing and canoe sprint always share with rowing first, canoe sprint second.  There's no reason to think that will be any different.  Ditto with fencing and taekwondo and judo/wrestling.  Taekwondo and wrestling are at the end of the Olympics after those other two sports end.

They've updated the venue plan since LA was first awarded the Games seven years ago, and some venues are still TBA.  So, we'll find out if there are any other sports that need to schedule around each other.  They also haven't announced venues for lacrosse, flag football, cricket and squash, four of the sports being added by the organizing committee for the LA Games.  (They haven't officially announced the baseball venue, either, but, c'mon, it's obviously gonna be Dodger Stadium!)  Likewise, we don't know the venue for boxing, assuming it's included on the 2028 Olympic program.

One thing is for sure.  The LA28 Olympics will have a schedule that looks vastly different from the one we saw in Paris.  It's not just the track & field/swimming flip, either.  Several sports will be impacted.  And I'm very curious to see how they work in all the changes they'll need to make.