Five new sports will be confirmed for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, including baseball and flag football

Chao News client reporter Li Wenyao

On October 16, at the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Mumbai, India, the IOC Assembly approved five new sports for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games: baseball, softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash.

Earlier, IOC President Bach said: "The selection of these five new events is in line with American sports culture and will showcase America's iconic sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States." ”

The IOC's website explains that the evaluation of new Olympic events takes into account gender equality, the utilization of existing venues, and the popularity of the project in the United States and globally.

Three out of five

It was featured at the Hangzhou Asian Games

Among the five new events, except for lacrosse and flag football, the other three are official events of the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the Chinese team also won the silver medal in the women's softball event at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Baseball, softball, cricket and lacrosse were also Olympic sports. Baseball and softball were featured at the Olympics from 1992 to 2008 and 2020, cricket was featured at the 1900 Olympics, and lacrosse was played at the 1904 and 1908 Olympic Games.

Although squash and flag rugby have never made it to the Olympics before. But in the past two years, with the popularity of outdoor sports and the promotion of new media, it has become an emerging sport loved by young people after frisbee, with a huge mass base.

Compared with formal rugby, flag football retains the fun of rugby, replacing direct physical contact by pulling the belt on the flag, reducing the impact of the project itself, expanding the audience of the sport, so that teenagers and even girls can get happiness from it.

At present, including personal investment and construction, Hangzhou has a total of about 30 squash courts, which not only appear in national fitness facilities, but also in the campus, commercial bodies, but also high-specification glass squash courts, laying a good foundation for the public to understand squash.

Niche sports enter the Olympics

Get more attention

Compared to the other four sports, lacrosse seems to be farther away from our lives. So what exactly is lacrosse?

Originated from the North American Indian indigenous tribes of hockey is also known as tennis baseball, it is the use of the top of the bat net pocket to control the movement of the ball, and the use of the principle of leverage, the ball in the net in the way of throwing to pass the ball and shoot the goal, and finally determine the number of points to determine the victory or defeat of the game a collective sport.

Doesn't that sound familiar? Modern basketball, ice hockey and other sports that originated in North America and are popular in the world actually refer to lacrosse tennis when they were first invented.

Lacrosse Source: Visual China

In 1998, Beijing Sport University officially established the first domestic lacrosse men's and women's team, and 10 years later, the sport was promoted to Shanghai universities, at present, lacrosse tennis is mainly carried out in universities, primary and secondary schools and sports training institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places, but because of the small number of participants, there is no officially sponsored brand event in China.

The five events are officially new to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, which is an opportunity for baseball, softball and cricket to return to the Olympic family, and for lacrosse, flag football and squash, it is in the public eye, just like cricket in the Asian Games, attracting more people to go crazy.

In addition, according to the recommendations of various international sports organizations, the IOC Executive Board meeting also confirmed the sub-event setting of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. There is only one change from the Paris Olympics: the beach sprint race, which has become popular in recent years, has replaced the men's and women's lightweight double sculls. This is also the first time that the rowing beach sprint has been included in the Olympic Games.

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