Explaining the pressure to include cricket, Casey Wasserman, president of Los Angeles 2028, said: “It’s a sport that is incredibly popular around the world, it’s growing in the United States. Diaspora in the US Growing and being engaged and exciting.”
“We believe the opportunity to bring a sport that has 2.5 billion die-hard fans to what we believe to be the greatest sports city in the world is a truly powerful combination.”
IOC President Thomas Bach said that the addition of five new sports would “bring international sports to the United States as well as showcase the iconic American Games to the world”.
Among the newly added American sports is flag football – a limited-contact form of American football.
Pierre Trochet, president of the International Federation of American Football, said its place on the schedule would “provide an exciting new dimension to the games – uniting them, for the first time in history, with America’s youngest number one sport.” The most accessible and inclusive format”.
Monday’s vote also saw the racket sport of squash finally being added to the Olympic program after several failed attempts.
Jenna Wooldridge, President of the World Squash Federation, said the sport was “an amazingly dynamic, diverse and demanding sport that is a perfect fit for the Olympic Games”.
But the IOC said on Monday that boxing’s status at the 2028 Games is “on hold” after it was stripped of recognition by the International Boxing Association (IBA) following a dispute over how the sport is run.