Lausanne, Switzerland (April 9, 2025) – Today, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board confirmed the medal events program and athlete quota for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028. LA28 will award a record number of Olympic medals, while showcasing exciting new mixed team events, achieving new benchmarks in gender equality and elevating women’s sports like never before. 

“Today marks a monumental step forward in LA28’s pursuit to welcome the greatest collection of athletes ever assembled on the world’s biggest stage in sport,” said LA28 Chief Athlete Officer, Janet Evans. “We are opening the door for more athletes to compete, win, and live out their Olympic dream at the LA28 Games where athletes have always been, and always will be, the heart of the Games. We are proud to champion an athlete-centric vision that celebrates excellence and the unifying spirit of the Olympic Movement.”

Highlights of the approved program include:

• The LA28 Football (Soccer) tournament will elevate women’s sport like never before by expanding the women’s competition to a record 16 teams, while adjusting the men’s tournament to 12 teams, to maintain the overall tournament size consistent with previous Olympic Games. This marks the first time ever, in the history of the Games, that more women’s teams will be featured than men’s in the Olympic Football tournament.

• Similarly, Water Polo and Boxing, both historically male-dominated sports, will achieve gender equality for the first time. In Water Polo, the women’s tournament will expand to 12 teams, matching the men’s. In Boxing, a new weight class will be added to the women’s competition, resulting in 7 weight classes for both the women’s and men’s tournaments, which will mark the end of a 20-year journey for the sport, from being a male-only sport as recently as Beijing 2008, through its evolution over the Games cycles of gradually introducing more women’s events, to finally achieving full parity in both athlete participation and events at the LA28 Games. 

• The 3x3 Basketball tournament will also expand to feature 12 women’s and 12 men’s teams in 2028. This increase recognizes the sport’s growing popularity since being introduced at Tokyo 2020, bringing it in line with other team sports on the program.

• LA28 will also debut six new thrilling mixed gender team events across Archery (in the new event of Compound Bow), Artistic Gymnastics, Athletics (4x100 mixed gender relay), Coastal Rowing Beach Sprint (Mixed Double Sculls), Golf, and Table Tennis. The competition format for the new Artistic Gymnastics mixed team event will be finalized and announced by the International Gymnastics Federation at a later date.

• Additional medal events added to the Olympics 2028 include the exciting and fast-paced 50m distance swim for both women’s and men’s competition in backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly – joining the 50m freestyle – which creates six additional medal opportunities for the fastest swimmers in the world. Sport Climbing athletes also gained two medal opportunities by separating the previous combined event, boulder and lead, and creating three distinct medal events: speed, boulder and lead. This evolution of the sport allows the world’s top climbers to excel in their specialized events, showcasing their skills at the highest level. 

Overall, the LA28 event program will bring together 10,500 Olympians across the 31 sports on the initial sports program, with up to 700 more athletes competing in the five new sports proposed by LA28 and added to the Olympic sport program by the IOC in October 2023. This powerful lineup of event revisions strengthens the presence of both global and U.S. fan-favorite sports, while proudly celebrating the highest number of female Olympians to ever compete in an Olympic Games.

LA28 also presented its Olympic venue masterplan to the IOC Executive Board, which was approved by the respective International Federations and supported without reservation by the Executive Board, completing its final stage of approval. Further information on the updated Olympic venue plan will be shared by LA28 at a later date. 

The complete approved medal events program and athlete quota is available at www.olympics.com.

ABOUT THE LA28 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

The LA28 Games will mark Los Angeles’ third time to host the Olympic Games, previously hosted in 1984 and 1932, and first time to host the Paralympic Games. Los Angeles will host the world’s most elite athletes in 2028 as it welcomes Paralympians and Olympians from around the world to compete on the biggest stage in sports. The LA28 Games are independently operated by a privately funded, non-profit organization with revenue from corporate partners, licensing agreements, hospitality and ticketing programs and a significant contribution from the International Olympic Committee.

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