Breaking: IOC Approves Addition of 50 Strokes for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics
The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday announced the addition of the 50-meter breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The decision was taken after an executive board meeting and publicized in a press conference by Olympic sports director Kit McConnell. The plan was proposed by World Aquatics and has been approved by the IOC. The full list of alterations is available here.
This will increase the number of individual medal events for both men’s and women’s competition from 14 to 17. Olympic competition has already expanded from eight days in 2016 to a nine-day meet for the first time at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and again in Paris in 2024.
In all, 41 medal events will be contested in the pool at SoFi Stadium, with 55 total medal events across all five aquatic disciplines.
LA2028 WELCOMES NEW 50M EVENTS
50m Freestyle, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Backstroke are added to the Olympic program.#Swimming will feature 41 medal events at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games!#Olympics #LA2028 pic.twitter.com/zkhPbOK9KE
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) April 9, 2025
This is the first addition to the Olympic swimming program since Tokyo, when the 800 freestyle was added for the men and the 1,500 free for the women to equalize the programs. The mixed medley relay also debuted in Tokyo.
The 50 stroke events join the 50 freestyle on the Olympic program. The 50 free was only added in 1988. The 50 stroke events debuted at the World Championships slate in 2001.
World Aquatics hailed the decision, noting that the IOC Executive Board was unanimous in the decision.
“Today’s decision is a testament to the continued evolution of swimming at the Olympic Games,” World Aquatics president Husain Al Musallam said in a press release. “Including these six new events enhances the programme’s balance and adds more opportunities for athletes to showcase their skills on the world’s biggest stage. We thank the IOC for their support in expanding Olympic swimming and can’t wait to watch these incredible athletes compete under the Southern California sky and stars in SoFi Stadium.”
Wednesday’s meeting affirmed the five sports that the Los Angeles 2028 committee put forth in 2023: baseball/softball, flag football, T20 cricket, lacrosse sixes and squash. It also confirmed the full slate of sports with the return of boxing, finalized last month. It also set the athlete quota at 10,500 athletes, equivalent to the Paris numbers, over 31 sports. Of those, 5,333 will be women, a majority for the first time in Olympic history. The five new sports account for 698 spots.
Two other aquatics related changes were announced:
The Olympic water polo tournaments will achieve gender parity in 2024, with the number of women’s teams increased to 12. The Paris Olympics and others before it had featured 12 men’s teams and 10 women’s squads, creating imbalanced group-play schedules.
#Waterpolo breaking news
For the first time in Olympic history, the Women’s Water Polo Tournament at the Los Angeles 2028 Games will feature 12 teams—matching the men’s competition in a landmark moment for the sport and gender parity.@Olympics pic.twitter.com/JhidH4xu62
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) April 9, 2025
The Youth Olympics, to be held in 2026 in Dakar, Senegal, will have the addition of the 800 freestyle for both men and women.
Other non-swimming additions include:
- A mixed team event in archery for the compound bow to go with the recurve bow team event
- Addition of eight more national teams in both men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball
- A 4 x 100 mixed relay in track and field, to complement the 4 x 400 mixed relay that debuted in Tokyo
- A reversal of the gender split for the soccer tournament, with 16 women’s teams and 12 men’s. In Paris, it had been 12 women’s and 16 men’s, though the women’s tournament is more central as a prize for the women’s soccer environment, with the men’s competition limited to Under-23 with overage players.
- A mixed team event in golf
- Artistic gymnastics will add a mixed team event, as will table tennis
- Three events in coastal rowing, which will replace lightweight rowing
