LA's New Sports

As it turns out, breaking will end up being more like karate than skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing.  Karate made its Olympic debut in Tokyo, but wasn't included on the sport program for Paris, where breaking will make its debut.  That will also be a one Olympics only appearance, as breaking wasn't among the sports proposed to be added for LA28, all of which have been approved by the IOC.

Six sports did make the cut, two of which will be held at the Olympics for the first time, two of which will return after long absences, and the combined effort that has an on-again/off-again relationship with the Olympics.  Flag football and squash are the newbies, while lacrosse and cricket are making their Olympic comebacks.  And, with the Games being held in LA, it was obvious that baseball and softball would once again be included after not being featured in Paris.

Let's start with squash, which I'm so glad to see will finally make its long-awaited Olympic debut.  Frankly, it's ridiculous that it's been this long!  Squash has been a finalist for Olympic inclusion so many times, yet never made the cut until now.  The sport checks all the boxes, too.  It's long been a part of the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, it's TV friendly and can be played anywhere, and the top of the world rankings are littered with players from all different countries.  And 32-player tournaments for both men and women add a grand total of 64 athletes.

Flag football is a sport that has been gaining traction in the Olympic movement over the past few years, especially after the NFL got involved.  It's not clear what the format will be, but there was a five-on-five version played at the 2022 World Games.  Football's obviously a very American sport, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is a one-and-done appearance.

Another very American sport, one that's becoming more and more popular at both the high school and college levels, is lacrosse.  Lacrosse has been played in the Olympics twice previously, but LA28 will be its first appearance in 120 years.  This one seemed like a given, especially since the U.S. and Canada are the top two teams in the world, but Australia is also strong, which could signal a second straight Olympic appearance in Brisbane.

Lacrosse also creates another intriguing possibility that I'd imagine the IOC will spend the next five years trying to explore.  The Iroquois invented lacrosse and have both a men's and women's national team that compete at the World Championships.  The Haudenosaunee (as the Iroquois Nationals team is known) won bronze at the World Championships this summer in San Diego.  Lacrosse is the only sport in which the Iroquois Confederacy competes internationally, and they currently don't have a National Olympic Committee, so it's not any sort of guarantee.  I'm also not entirely sure the effort to set up an NOC would be worth it for a guarantee of just one Olympics.  If they can make it work, though, it would be tremendous to see!

Cricket hasn't been played at the Olympics since 1900 and, I'll admit, I was pretty surprised by its inclusion for the LA Games.  The IOC really seemed to be pushing for cricket, though, so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.  There's also the new professional league, Major League Cricket, and the U.S. is co-hosting the men's World Cup next year.  So, I'm sure they see cricket's potential in the U.S., as well as its popularity in other parts of the world, which were probably two of the biggest selling points.

The other thing that worked in cricket's favor was its successful inclusion at the Commonwealth Games last year.  They only had a women's tournament, but it was very popular and proved that the T20 version of the sport, which takes around three hours, can fit in well at a multi-sport Games.  And, again, cricket is so popular around the world, that it makes sense to take the opportunity to engage new fans.

It actually wouldn't surprise me if part of the reason cricket was included was to build momentum for 2032.  There are cricket grounds all over Australia, and the Australian men's and women's National Teams are both very strong.  So, a successful Olympic return in LA could pave the way for a second straight appearance in Brisbane, where the home team will be among the favorites for gold.

Speaking of the home team being among the favorites for gold, that'll certainly be the case for the U.S. in baseball and softball.  Baseball and softball's complicated Olympic history saw them return to the program in Tokyo after a 13-year absence.  With those Games being held in Japan, their inclusion was a no-brainer.  Just like their inclusion in LA (and likely inclusion in Brisbane, as well) was a no-brainer.  So, if you're keeping track, that'll be three of the four Olympics since host nations were allowed to propose additional sports that baseball and softball will be included, with Paris the only outlier (but, hey, something had to go so that we could have breaking!).

In Tokyo, the U.S. won silver in both behind host Japan.  The U.S. softball National Team will obviously be at full strength, while the U.S. baseball team would likely be set up the same way as Tokyo with Minor Leaguers and free agents.  The fact that the Olympics are in the middle of the Major League season and MLB players are unavailable has always been a sticking point with the IOC, but, unfortunately, there's really no way around that.  This time, they'll at least be able to use a Major League ballpark since, I'm assuming, Dodger Stadium would be the venue.  (Hopefully, they play softball at UCLA, in the softball-specific facility the sport deserves, rather than playing both at Dodger or Angel Stadium.)

What's interesting about the sports that have been added is that, with the exception of squash, they're all team sports.  The IOC has a target of 10,500 athletes maximum, although that's not a hard cap.  Team sports obviously require many more athletes, though, and there's only one set of medals available per gender.  So, I'll be curious to see how big the tournament fields and team sizes are, especially since none of the six sports is a permanent Olympic addition.

There was something else I noticed, too.  The additional sports for Tokyo were all ones Japan is good at, which helped boost Japan's medal total.  It was all within the rules, so I don't begrudge them for that and think it was very smart for them to take advantage of that opportunity.  That's not completely the case here, though.  Sure, you can expect the U.S. to be favored in baseball/softball, lacrosse and flag football, but not necessarily in squash and cricket.  Those seem to be more about helping those sports grow, not just capitalizing on ones where you already have success.  (Although, the U.S. is already pretty good at the existing Olympic sports, so how much can the medal count be helped as it is?)

Skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing had already been affirmed by the IOC as part of the Olympic program at LA28.  They still aren't officially among the "core" Olympic sports, but it sure seems like they're on their way to getting that status.  It'll be the third straight Olympics for each, and their future is probably a lot more secure than the three formerly "core" sports that haven't been proposed for inclusion, but, rather were given a "pathway for potential inclusion."

Boxing has had a problem with governance for quite a while and currently doesn't have a recognized international federation.  The IOC itself ran the boxing tournament in Tokyo and will again in Paris.  Modern pentathlon, which hasn't been "modern" in quite some time, replaced horse riding with an obstacle race, which the IOC insisted on.  Frankly, I think the only reason it hasn't been dropped yet is because the sport was invented by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, and is championed by Juan Antonio Samaranch, Jr., son of the longtime IOC President.  And weightlifting needs to figure out its doping problems.  If the IOC is satisfied with everything after Paris, weightlifting will be included.

So, even though we know the six "new" sports that will be held in LA, we still won't know the final program until after the Paris Games.  Among the additional sports, however, I think it's a safe bet that it won't be the final appearance for baseball/softball, cricket and, possibly, lacrosse.  Squash may or may not be included in future Games.  Flag football, meanwhile, appears to be the karate and breaking of the group.  But, hey, it'll still have an Olympic debut, and that deserves to be celebrated!