There were some new sports announced for the 2028 Olympic games last week. Some are returning sports. Some will be new to the Olympics. But it’s still not clear what, if any, will be dropped to make way for the new ones.
For the 2024 games, surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing will all be returning, after being given a trial run in 2021. Plus, breaking will be added to the lineup. Yes, breaking. As in break dancing.
For 2028, flag football, cricket and lacrosse will all be added as well.
Some of these I have no problem with. Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world, although I have no idea how to play. And I have tried it, many years ago. As near as I could figure out, you try to keep the guy with the ball from knocking over your little pile of sticks, and in the process, run back and forth and score points. There is a lot more to it than that. Although I have no idea what it is.
Lacrosse will also make an interesting addition. Although I have my doubts about some of them. But I really don’t know them well enough to pass judgement.
Like break dancing. I know it takes a fairly athletic person to do that. And I certainly can’t. But I wonder about judging something like that. It seems to be a pretty regular occurrence during the winter Olympics for there to be some controversy over judging of things like ice dance. And with any sport where you have points given which are entirely up to the discretion of the judges and how they see things, there will likely be differences of opinion. Hopefully they can find ways to avoid such situations.
But scoring and judging aside, I’m sure some of these sports will be fun to watch. Hopefully they will explain them to us as they go.