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The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be the first in history to schedule the women’s 100-meter track final on the opening day of competitions and push the men’s event to the second day.
The full LA28 schedule was released Wednesday, with organizers announcing the unprecedented change to prioritize the women’s category.
“The women’s 100 meters will be one of the most-watched events, and we wanted to start with a showcase of the fastest females in the world,” LA28 chief of sport and Games delivery Shana Ferguson told reporters.
Opening day on July 15 will feature all three rounds of the women’s 100 meters. Typically, women’s track athletes run a maximum of two events per day in the Olympics. So the three events in one day will also be uncharted territory for the category and its athletes.
The change to give women sprinters the early-window spotlight comes at a time of popularity growth for women’s sports in the U.S. and global focus on protecting the women’s category from biologically male trans athletes.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is reportedly moving toward enacting a new policy that will prohibit trans athletes from competing as women, according to multiple reports this week.
President Donald Trump suggested in August that there would be some form of genetic testing at the LA Olympics in order to ensure no males compete in women’s events.
SEX TESTS EXPOSE DOZENS OF ATHLETES WITH MALE ADVANTAGES COMPETED IN WOMEN’S WORLD ATHLETICS FINALS SINCE 2000
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jonathan Finnoff told reporters last month that the USOPC is exploring options to make SRY gene tests available to U.S. sports governing bodies ahead of the LA Olympics.
Other LA 28 Schedule highlights
American flag football will be making its Olympics debut in 2028, with men’s and women’s competitions scheduled to begin on July 15 at Exposition Park Stadium, where all the flag football games will be held.
The men’s gold medal game will take place on Friday, July 21, with the women’s gold medal game set to take place the next day on Saturday, July 22.
Baseball and softball will be making their returns to the Olympics after being absent at the Paris Games last summer.
All the baseball games will be taking place at Dodgers Stadium, beginning on Thursday July 13. The gold medal game will then take place on Wednesday, July 19.
The softball games will be played at OKC Softball Park, beginning on Sunday, July 23, with the gold medal game taking place on Saturday, July 29.
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Basketball, which the U.S. has dominated for the last three decades, will begin two days before the opening ceremony for the women on Wednesday, July 12, and one day before the opening ceremony for the men on Thursday, July 13. The women’s gold medal game will then be held on Saturday, July 29, and the men’s final will be on Sunday, July 30. All basketball games will take place at the Inglewood Dome.
Overall, the 2028 Olympics schedule is seeing seven competitions take place before the opening ceremony, which is historically unusual.
There will also be a ‘Super Saturday’ on 29 July (day 15), which includes 26 finals in 23 sports.
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