TWO YEARS FROM Tuesday, the Summer Olympics return to Los Angeles for the first time in more than four decades. A lot has changed since 1984, when Michael Jordan led the U.S. basketball team to gold and Mary Lou Retton became America's sweetheart while winning five medals. LA28 will mark the first Summer Games with an equal number of men's and women's team sports -- and the first time in Olympic history that the fastest woman in the world will be crowned on opening day.
And that's just the start. From the Olympic debut of flag football to superstar comebacks and iconic venues, here are five reasons we're already clearing our calendars for a spectacular summer of competition -- plus a way-too-early look ahead to the winter action of Alpes 2030.
Schedule shake-up
For the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, track and field and swimming are swapping their traditional spots on the Olympic calendar, with track moving to Week 1 and swimming moving to Week 2. Also, for the first time, the women's 100-meter race will run on the opening day of competition, on Saturday, July 15. That means every round of the 100 meters, from prelims to the final, will take place on the same day at the L.A. Coliseum, which becomes the first venue to host events at three Olympics.
A crowded field
The competition to make the 2024 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team was considered the toughest in history. This quad might be tougher.
Of the Paris Olympic team that won gold, Hezly Rivera has continued on a path toward 2028, but is currently injured. Suni Lee announced her return on Tuesday, Jade Carey recently began competing again, and Jordan Chiles and Simone Biles have left the door open for comebacks. Leanne Wong, the 2020 and 2024 Olympic alternate, returns to elite competition at the U.S. Classics this weekend, along with Skye Blakely, who ruptured her right Achilles tendon at 2024 Olympic trials.
Meanwhile, Shilese Jones, who like Blakely suffered a season-ending injury at the 2024 Olympic trials, is training for a shot at LA28. And don't forget the young stars vying to make their first Olympic team: 2025 U.S. Classic all-around champion Claire Pease, 2025 Pan American all-around champion Jayla Hang and rising seniors Simone Rose and Charleigh Bullock.
But the biggest surprise? Katelyn Ohashi, 29, has returned to elite gymnastics after more than a decade. Famous for her viral college floor routines at UCLA, where she competed from 2016 to 2019 -- and for being the last gymnast to beat Biles in the all-around (at the 2013 American Cup!) -- Ohashi competed in her first elite meet in 13 years in June.
"LA28 is a beautiful thing to think about," Ohashi said. "The code of points [in elite] has shifted in the direction my gymnastics favors. I'm not a big power tumbler. Artistry is what my gymnastics favors and that's the code of points right now."
A California homecoming
Skateboarding, surfing and BMX freestyle made their Olympic debuts at Tokyo 2020 and have been among the Games' most popular new additions, especially among younger audiences. With strong roots in southern California, which shaped the culture of action sports -- and Olympic hopefuls from the area -- these three sports will be hot tickets in L.A.
The runup to the Games will be just as exciting, as the competition to make the teams -- and earn the marketing opportunities that come with those spots -- will be fierce. Two names to know now: Julian Agliardi, 16, is the youngest rider on 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Nyjah Huston's Disorder Skateboards team and an emerging medal threat at street contests and Lilly Erickson, 16, is an Oahu-born park skater who has earned multiple top-five finishes at X Games.
More U.S. surfers ... maybe!
USA Surfing is laser-focused on one goal: Sending a six-surfer team to Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, to compete for gold. At the past two Olympics, the U.S. failed to earn a third quota spot for the men and sent only the maximum three women to Paris in 2024. To earn those third spots, the U.S. must win the men's and women's team events at either the 2026 or 2027 ISA World Surfing Games, and the U.S. Olympic selection procedure will determine who fills that spot.
USA Surfing will announce its selection process later this summer. John Florence, the 2016, 2017 and 2024 world champion who took off the 2025 and 2026 seasons to sail around the world with his wife and son, hasn't committed to returning to the World Championship Tour, which could be a requirement for making the U.S. team. But he said another shot at an Olympic medal could draw him back. Florence was eliminated in the round of 16 in Tokyo and Paris.
"It would be so cool to be a part of the Olympics again," he said. "Having a good result in the Olympics is something I haven't been able to do in my career. It's looming in my mind."
Flag on the play
LA28 marks the first Summer Olympics with an equal number of women's and men's team sports. That's thanks to the debut of flag football and squash and the return of softball, cricket and lacrosse. With support from the NFL, flag football stands to be the breakout star of the Games.
Much of the focus so far has centered on which NFL players will compete in L.A. -- quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Josh Allen and wide receiver Tyreek Hill have expressed interest. On the women's side, Ashlea Klam, a 21-year-old senior who plays for Cal Poly and the U.S. women's national team, could become her sport's Ilona Maher: a breakout sensation who's a difference-maker on the field and marketable to the mainstream. (Maher started the Paris Games with around 600,000 Instagram followers and finished with more than 3 million. Klam currently has 58,000.)
"Flag isn't the pretend version of tackle football," said the Under Armour athlete and NFL flag football ambassador her teammates call "Hollywood" for her background in acting. "It's just as competitive and exciting but flag has its own rules. It's no longer a recreational sport. Athletes can start young and dream to be an Olympian or, with the NFL pro league coming next year, a professional athlete."
Freeride comes to France
Too soon to talk 2030? Not for Olympic fans! At a July meeting of its executive board, the International Olympic Committee announced changes to the slate of sports for the 2030 Winter Olympics, which will be spread across several venues in the French Alps -- and in Nice. Nordic combined, which blends cross-country skiing and ski jumping and has been part of every Winter Olympics -- but has never included women -- was cut, while freeride skiing and snowboarding were added. (IOC president Kirsty Coventry said the sport could potentially return in 2034.)
So ... what is freeride? Unlike PGS or ski/snowboardcross, freeride runs are not timed. And unlike halfpipe or slopestyle, skiers and snowboarders compete on natural, ungroomed terrain rather than a manufactured course and choose their own lines through features like cliffs, chutes and powder fields. The 22 men and 22 women across skiing and snowboarding will be judged on a combination of line choice, control, fluidity, technique and style.
"Freeriding is such a special sport because it's a mix creativity, self-expression and the natural terrain of the mountains," said U.S. athlete Mia Jones, 20, the 2026 FIS freeride world champion and the daughter of legendary big-mountain snowboarder and climate activist Jeremy Jones. "The Olympics has the potential to bring so much energy and opportunity to the sport."
