The International Olympic Committee has unveiled a new competition program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics that adds mixed-gender events in several marquee sports and broadens the role of women across the Games.

USA Today reported on April 9 that the IOC will add mixed-gender team events in golf and gymnastics, along with a 4x100 mixed relay in track and field. The moves build on the Olympic movement’s recent push toward gender balance and on the popularity of mixed formats in a handful of existing competitions.

In golf, the new event will create a team contest in a sport that has traditionally been split into separate men’s and women’s tournaments. In gymnastics, the IOC says the format will bring together athletes from both genders in a new team setting, though the International Gymnastics Federation still has to finalize the exact structure. In track, the new 4x100 mixed relay will sit alongside the established mixed 4x400 relay.

The IOC also confirmed the scale of the other new sports coming to Los Angeles: baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash. Each of the four team additions will include six men’s teams and six women’s teams, while squash will feature 16 men and 16 women. That matters because it shows the IOC is not just adding events for novelty; it is attempting to redesign parts of the program with symmetry in mind.

The overall athlete quota for the core Olympic program will remain at 10,500, matching Paris 2024, with the five added sports bringing 698 additional athletes. Women are expected to make up 50.5% of the athlete pool, a small but symbolic majority that reflects the IOC’s stated focus on parity.

IOC sports director Kit McConnell framed the mixed events as an expression of gender equality, saying they place men and women on the same team and on the same field of play. The language matters because the committee is trying to present these changes as more than a technical adjustment. They are being sold as part of a broader values shift.

The new events also carry commercial and sporting logic. Mixed formats can create fresh storylines and broaden appeal, while team contests in sports such as golf and gymnastics may help make otherwise individual disciplines feel more communal and television-friendly. That is especially relevant in Los Angeles, where the IOC will want the Games to feel both modern and accessible.

Some of the new sports are already controversial in their own way, particularly flag football, where the possibility of NFL players participating remains unresolved. But the headline change in the IOC announcement is the degree to which it uses mixed competition to reshape the Olympic identity.

Taken together, the additions point toward a Games that is trying to balance tradition with a more contemporary image. Los Angeles 2028 will still rely on the familiar prestige of long-established Olympic events, but it will also lean harder into formats that emphasize shared teams, gender balance and experimentation.

For athletes and federations, the practical next step is implementation. For the IOC, the bigger task is proving that these changes will produce competitions that are not just politically appealing, but also compelling to watch.