Credit: USA Softball

2028 Olympics Expected to Include Softball

Softball was shut out the first two times the Summer Olympics came to Los Angeles. It appears the sport won’t miss out when the Games return to the city in 2028. 

Softball is among five sports that local organizers have proposed for inclusion in 2028 program, along with the event’s regular program. LA28, the local organizing body, proposed softball, baseball, cricket, flag football and squash for inclusion. Although expected to be a formality, the additions aren’t official until approved by the International Olympic Committee in a vote on Oct. 16 in Mumbai.

No details were included on the intended format or facilities. In Tokyo, the tournament consisted of six teams, down from eight teams in each of the sport’s previous four Olympics tournaments. As in previous editions, rosters were limited to 15 athletes. 

As part of Olympic reforms and retooling over the past decade, organizing committees have the ability to propose sports for inclusion on a one-time basis, often to appeal to local audiences or specific demographics. Inclusion in 2028 would not guarantee that softball will be part of the 2032 program in Brisbane, Australia.

First included in the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, softball was part of the program through the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Dropped, along with baseball, following Beijing, the sport returned in 2021 as part of the delayed Tokyo Olympics—again as a sport included by local organizers, rather than the IOC’s regular slate of sports. 

In Los Angeles, the United States will hope to snap a 24-year gold medal drought. Japan defeated the U.S. for gold in both 2008 and 2021. 

Olympics aside, the United States is the three-time reigning world champion, having won the WBSC World Cup (formerly World Championship) in 2016, 2018 and 2022. Among members of the U.S. team coached by Heather Tarr that won the 2022 world title in Birmingham, Ala., Ally Carda would be 35 in 2028—the oldest among players who took the field in the gold medal game and have not retired. 

The 28 sports already part of the 2028 program are: Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Canoe, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Field hockey, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Rowing, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Soccer, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball (beach and indoor) and Wrestling.