ICC
Cricket Set to Be Included at 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
Thomas Bach, the IOC’s president, is understood to be very keen to include cricket because of its appeal to the vast populations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are traditionally not so engaged in Olympic sports as other parts of the world. An Olympic T20 tournament would be expected to attract enormous numbers of TV viewers.
LA 2028 organizers (LA28) are understood to be willing to accommodate cricket in return for “flag football” — a non-contact version of American football where players are tackled by having Velcro tags removed — being included as well.
Bach has been encouraging India to bid for the 2036 Olympics, which would be the first time it has hosted the Games, saying there is a “strong case” to take the multi-sport event there. Having cricket established as an Olympic sport would be a big boost towards that and would also be appropriate for the 2032 Games in Brisbane, Australia. It would also receive a positive reception in Mumbai during the IOC session on October 15-17.
Bach said at the weekend that he was “a fan of cricket” and last year was pictured taking part in a women’s cricket match in Fiji. Bach also confirmed to CNBC-TV18 that the “T20 format” would be the one used and that it was “very possible” to accommodate it in the Olympic program.
The campaign for cricket to become an Olympic sport initially faced some objections from the Indian board because of concerns over scheduling clashes, but once those were overcome it has been supported strongly by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The international federation now strongly supports the inclusion of cricket in the Olympics as a way to broaden the appeal of the sport and to further advance the visibility of women’s cricket. Cricket has been played at the Olympics only once before, at the 1900 Games in Paris.
Last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham featured an eight-team women’s T20 competition. It was seen as a test event for including cricket in a multi-sport event with some of the LA28 organizing committee attending and giving it a seal of approval.
There have been negotiations over the extra number of athletes and coaches involved — it would mean about 330 players and staff, with eight men’s and eight women’s squads each with 15 players and around five backroom staff.
The ICC has agreed to some compromises — making the men’s and women’s tournaments run at different times and making them as short as possible with two matches a day. The format would be two groups of four teams, with the top two in each going through to the semi-finals.
The IOC and LA28 are also understood to have reached a compromise over total athlete numbers which would allow more than the total of 10,500. Organizers have said the athletes’ village can operate inside its full capacity by spreading the schedule more, so that different sports take place at different times.
The new sports at Paris 2024, including break-dancing and sport climbing, are expected to be retained. Baseball and softball’s hopes of being reinstated for LA 2028 are still in doubt due to issues with Major League Baseball, while there are some concerns that modern pentathlon will be dropped. – The Times
