Summer Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 Sports Programme Road to LA 2028

[Vektor 3,326]

25 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

I said it years ago. USA, the country with the biggest history and lineage of all time would never throw out Boxing. They have more traditions in it, than practically any other sport, with the exception of athletics, swimming and basketball.

 

If this was a country with no traditions like Australia, sure, there could a possibility of excluding boxing. But USA, come on. It's absurd that people even think it, no matter what their opinion on the sport is currently.

Do people still case about boxing? I mean, actual professional boxing, not just Olympic boxing. I feel like it faded so much, even compared to other professional sports. From what I see it has almost no online presence. The last time I saw a boxing match go "viral" was that stupid YouTuber boxing event. In Hungary the big televised boxing galas literally vanished from the country. I see UFC mentioned far more often. 

 

Boxing has the pop culture status as the most iconic combat sport and people sure watch movies about fictional boxing (Creed movies), but irl... the buzz around the sport seems very muted. 

[Federer91 3,381]

4 hours ago, De_Gambassi said:

We are always talking about the exclusion of multiple sports from the Olympics like it's a nothing problem, but the reality for the last 20 years is that IOC seems incapable of cutting sports.

 

 

Throwing out sports shouldn't be easy, but the talking points and agendas are always politicized. 

 

I can do that too, because i'm bored 

 

You hear all the time - cost of the Games, cost of the Games, COST of the Games, but somehow that is never factored in, when they talk about the sports programme. 

 

Track Cycling - highly expensive

Canoe Slalom - highly expensive

Sailing and Equestrian - probably expensive to organise and definitely expensive to practice.

Rowing / Sprint canoeing - could be expensive, if you don't have a built in canal..

 

I like these sports and don't want them to leave, but you have to wonder why they never come up in discussions. Is it maybe because those are sports dominated by Western countries. (Yes i know, the old West vs. East propaganda, a tale old as time). Of course those sport have never had any problems, they are clear as the sky.

 

While the topic is always on weightlifting, boxing, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, you know sports which are more popular in other parts of the world (Again, i know, doping, corruption, shady organisations.. it never happens in other sports). Sports, which require 2 mats /rings/ podiums, that could be organised on the street and can be practiced in the smallest village in Zambia. We are saving money by throwing out the cheapest sports out there.

 

And i can add the diversity participation card in there. Boxing, wrestling, even weightlifting, if they'd allow them, have more country diversity at one Olympics, than Sailing, Equestrian and Track Cycling could have in 5 Olympics combined.

[LDOG 2,477]

1 hour ago, intoronto said:

Imagine thinking field hockey is entertaining and ice isn't 

Both are boring for opposite reasons: ice is way too chaotic, field way too rigurous about contact. In both it's hard to tell what's going on when they are close to the goal.

[Vektor 3,326]

40 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

 

While the topic is always on weightlifting, boxing, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, you know sports which are more popular in other parts of the world (Again, i know, doping, corruption, shady organisations.. it never happens in other sports).

Weightlifting got beyond fucked by scandals. Sure, every sport has scandals, but name one other Olympic sport where the president of the international federation got accused of tempering with the anti-doping process  and then got a lifetime ban from CAS. You can't put that just aside and pretend like it happens in every Olympic sport. The Aján scandal tarnished the sport. 

 

The boxing scoring system is shit, makes it waaay too easy to cheat, not to mention that AIBA also fucked that sport and maybe it never recovers. All other Olympic combat sports have much better scoring systems with VAR in place to question every decision. Boxing is in its current state doesn't belong to the Olympic Games, it's more of a performance art of "who can perform the more visible punches for 3 rounds" than an actual clear combat sport. 

 

As for wrestling and rhythmic gymnastics... GR wrestling will be thrown out if they won't introduce women's GR. And RG has to introduce male athletes like artistic swimming did. Other sports are doing their gender equality homework while these don't, and there will be consequences of that eventually. 

 

As a Hungarian I want to keep Greco-Roman wrestling alive, but they are so behind the curve on gender equality that it might already be too late. It's like the wrestling federation isn't even trying. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Vektor

[heywoodu 16,460]

2 hours ago, intoronto said:

Imagine thinking field hockey is entertaining and ice isn't 

I see field hockey as a serious, tense and entertaining sport and ice hockey as a fun entertaining bit of yuesay show. Definitely entertaining, but with much more the feel of a show  Which isn't necessarily bad of course, just different. 

 

 

[heywoodu 16,460]

1 hour ago, Federer91 said:

Throwing out sports shouldn't be easy, but the talking points and agendas are always politicized. 

 

I can do that too, because i'm bored 

 

You hear all the time - cost of the Games, cost of the Games, COST of the Games, but somehow that is never factored in, when they talk about the sports programme. 

 

Track Cycling - highly expensive

Canoe Slalom - highly expensive

Sailing and Equestrian - probably expensive to organise and definitely expensive to practice.

Rowing / Sprint canoeing - could be expensive, if you don't have a built in canal..

 

I like these sports and don't want them to leave, but you have to wonder why they never come up in discussions. Is it maybe because those are sports dominated by Western countries. (Yes i know, the old West vs. East propaganda, a tale old as time). Of course those sport have never had any problems, they are clear as the sky.

 

While the topic is always on weightlifting, boxing, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, you know sports which are more popular in other parts of the world (Again, i know, doping, corruption, shady organisations.. it never happens in other sports). Sports, which require 2 mats /rings/ podiums, that could be organised on the street and can be practiced in the smallest village in Zambia. We are saving money by throwing out the cheapest sports out there.

 

And i can add the diversity participation card in there. Boxing, wrestling, even weightlifting, if they'd allow them, have more country diversity at one Olympics, than Sailing, Equestrian and Track Cycling could have in 5 Olympics combined.

Or in the winter: ski jumping (and therefore Nordic combined) and the sliding sports. God I love them, but my lord are they expensive to have a massive venue for a super niche event 99% of the world knows absolutely nothing about  

[owenp_23 564]

Going to chime in on this conversation.

 

I don’t want cricket or baseball at LA28.

 

As much as I like the sports, they just don’t work quite right as Olympic sports. Cricket would only be able to bring 5 competitive teams with West Indies having to break up and USA being far behind and there should, at the very least, be 8 competing and a squad from every continent.

 

As for baseball, my favorite sport, the only countries that would care are Cuba and Australia. USA, Japan, Korea and the Latin American/Caribbean nations would be sending second and even third-tier teams during the regular season of pro leagues.

 

Instead, the sports I would want to see included are softball, compound archery and beach soccer (to replace football). Of course lacrosse as well, but that would need other sports cut to fit in the total quota.

[JoshMartini007 2,860]

Most sports don't cost too much to host, about half of them can be done in what I call "generic indoor venues" which all major cities have. The major problem is the spectator requirements imposed by the sport federations and the IOC. Many major cities have multiple venues which seat 1000-5000 people, but a lot of sports want something bigger. Additionally you have outdoor sports like road cycling and triathlon where very little infrastructure is required.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

12 minutes ago, JoshMartini007 said:

Most sports don't cost too much to host, about half of them can be done in what I call "generic indoor venues" which all major cities have. The major problem is the spectator requirements imposed by the sport federations and the IOC. Many major cities have multiple venues which seat 1000-5000 people, but a lot of sports want something bigger. Additionally you have outdoor sports like road cycling and triathlon where very little infrastructure is required.

This is what I see as one of the biggest challenges for the sustainability of multi-sport games, especially the Commonwealth Games. Federations/organizers need to be more willing to compromise on capacity at venues. The cost of “modernizations” should also be kept within reason. 

[Olympian1010 8,297]

34 minutes ago, owenp_23 said:

Instead, the sports I would want to see included are softball, compound archery and beach soccer (to replace football). Of course lacrosse as well, but that would need other sports cut to fit in the total quota.

Beach soccer, in my opinion, is a great fit for multi-sport games. It’s fast-paced, can share a venue with other beach sports, and requires less quotas and competition days. I’d like to see it replace the standard football tournament in the near future.
 

I’ve come to enjoy international softball as well. The WBSC need to continue to develop the men’s games and propose it for inclusion along with the traditional women’s event. 
 

Compound archery is tricky because of the quota situation. They could go 48 (recurve)/48 (compound) but the number of nations competing will almost certainly drop substantially. They could eliminate the gendered team events, but I’d imagine there’d be a good amount of opposition to that. Personally, I still think the competition format for compound archery needs some work. I’d prefer to see them use 3D targets with odd shapes and small scoring areas at different distances. 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Olympian1010