LOS ANGELES 2028 WILL HAVE A RECORD NUMBER OF MEDALS AND AN IMPORTANT ADVANCE IN GENDER EQUITY

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Important changes in several sports and a gender equity never seen before, will have the Olympic Games in the United States. The International Olympic Committee informed this Wednesday the medal program and the quota of athletes. Find out here what’s new for Los Angeles 2028.

There are 1192 days to go until the start of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and today the IOC Executive Board confirmed the Medal Program and the number of athletes that will be part of this multi-sport festival.

And there are several changes that will present the appointment of the rings, highlighting major changes in several sports, a record number of medals of the event and new milestones in gender equality.

“We are opening the doors for more athletes to compete, win and live 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-centered vision that celebrates excellence and the unifying spirit of the Olympic Movement.” noted LA28 Director Janet Evans.

Among the most important aspects that have been modified are the following:

1. Women’s soccer will have a historic 16 teams participating, while men’s soccer will have 12 teams. For the first time, there will be more women’s teams than men’s teams at the Olympic Games.
2. For the first time in history, water polo will achieve gender equality. Women’s water polo will have a total of 12 teams, equaling the men’s teams.
3. Women’s boxing will add a new category, bringing the total to seven and achieving gender equality.
4. Basketball 3×3 will also undergo a modification, with 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams.
5. Archery, in the Compound Archery discipline, will have six new events for mixed teams.
6. Artistic Gymnastics will have a mixed competition for the first time. In LA 2028, men and women will compete together for a place on the podium.
7. Sport climbing, which is becoming more and more popular, will also bring changes. There will be 3 medal events: Bouldering, Difficulty and Speed.
8. Rowing will have new events: women’s single sculls (CW1x), men’s single sculls (CM1x) and mixed double sculls (CX2x) will debut in Los Angeles 2028.
9. Swimming has also achieved a major change. To the ever-existing 50-meter freestyle in Olympic events, the same distance will now be added in backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly, creating a total of six purebas with additional medal options for the sport.
10. Athletics will have a new mixed relay event. This time it will be 4×100 meters which joins the 4×400 meters Relays that were experienced in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
11. Golf and table tennis will also add a team event to their respective programs.

All in all, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will have a total of 351 medal events (161 women’s, 165 men’s and 25 mixed), 22 more than in Paris 2024 (329), and 10,500 athletes will participate, with 698 additional places allocated to the five sports proposed by the Games Organizing Committee (baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash).