From first-time participants to old friends, a new Olympic Games brings with it a host of new sports.
Athletes will descend on the Golden State for the second time in 44 years when the Olympics return to Los Angeles in 2028.
And as with every Games, and the ever-changing sporting landscape, LA 2028 is putting its own spin on the Olympics with five new sports added to the programme.
With just three years to go until the next summer Olympic Games, here are the new and returning sports you can expect to see.
Baseball/Softball
Baseball first debuted at the Olympic Games at St. Louis 1904 as an unofficial sport before featuring again in a similar guise at Stockholm 1912, Berlin 1936 and in the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s.
It finally became an official Olympic sport at Barcelona 1992 as a male only event, with Cuba beating Chinese Taipei in the gold medal match.
Cuba top the baseball standings with three gold and two silver medals.
Softball joined the Olympic programme in 1996 in Atlanta.
The USA have claimed three softball golds and one silver, losing out to Japan in 2008 who also won at their home Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Fastpitch softball is the most commonly played version of softball internationally, with pitchers able throw the ball at speeds exceeding 110 km/h.
GB Softball, the national senior women’s team, finished second in the 2024 European Championships.
Both sports continued on the programme through to Beijing 2008 but were not included at London 2012, Rio 2016 or Paris 2024. They return to the Olympic programme for LA 2028.
Cricket
One of the world's most popular sports, cricket returns to the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028.
Cricket has been in the Olympics only once before, with a men's competition at Paris 1900; only two teams featured, with Great Britain winning gold ahead of hosts France.
Neither of the sides actually fielded a national cricket team, with GB represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers club, who were on tour to France at the time and were asked to travel to Paris for the Olympics.
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 11 players each, with the objective for one team to score runs while the other team tries to dismiss the players through various means, such as bowling them out. A match is divided into 'innings', where one team bats while the other bowls and fields.
Cricket at the 2028 Olympic Games will be played in the T20 format. T20 cricket is a shorter format of the game, where each team is allowed a maximum of 20 overs (120 balls) to bat.
Flag Football
Flag football is a variant of the gridiron family of sports, most famous worldwide as American football.
The sport is set to make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028 but dates back to the 1940s, when it emerged during World War Two to keep American military personnel fit whilst also preventing them from being injured during wartime.
A limited contact sport, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end a down.
Great Britain women took home the European Championship title in 2023 and in 2025.
The National Football League (NFL) confirmed that its players will be eligible to play in the event at LA 2028.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a fast-paced team sport that involves using a long-handled stick, called a crosse, to carry, pass, and shoot a small rubber ball into the opposing team's goal.
The sport, that has its roots in Native American cultures, is known for its speed and physicality, as players can use their sticks to check opponents, but there's also a strong emphasis on skillful ball handling and quick passes.
Lacrosse will return to the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028 after a 120-year hiatus. It featured at the St Louis 1904 and London 1908 Games, with Team GB winning silver in the latter.
At the LA 2028 Olympic Games, lacrosse will be played in the Sixes format.
Sixes lacrosse is a faster, more compact version of traditional lacrosse, played with six players on each team, as opposed to the usual 10. The game is played on a smaller field, typically about half the size of a regular lacrosse field, and has a faster pace.
Squash
The high-paced indoor racquet sport of squash will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028.
The game derives from the 19th century game of rackets which was played in London prisons before it was adapted to play with a punctured ball by pupils at Harrow School in 1830, which eventually led to popularity across the globe.
England are five-time men and women world team champions and the men have won the Senior European Team Championships a record 40 times since 1973, while Scottish and Welsh athletes have also won medals at the Commonwealth Games.
Sportsbat 2025