L.A. Olympics schedule launched, with ladies’s 100m on Day 1

For the primary time in Olympic historical past, the quickest lady on this planet shall be topped on the primary official day of competitors on the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The ladies’s 100-meter ultimate on July 15, 2028, will cap a day of competitors that may start with the primary gold medal of the Games being awarded on Venice Beach within the ladies’s triathlon, which final opened Olympic competitors in Sydney in 2000. Day 1 may also function essentially the most ladies’s finals held in a single day on the Olympics.

“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,” Shana Ferguson, chief of sport and Games supply for LA28, stated on a media name.

The L.A. 2028 schedule additionally ends with a packed weekend that organizers are referring to as “Super Saturday” on July 29. The penultimate day of competitors will function 26 finals throughout 23 sports activities, together with 15 gold- and bronze-medal matches in workforce sports activities and finals for 15 particular person sports activities.

Holding the 100-meter ultimate on the opening day of competitors would require the ladies to run each spherical on the identical day as a substitute of throughout two days as is typical on the Olympics.

“We spoke at length with my athlete commission, and it was a largely positive conversation,” stated LA28 chief athlete officer Janet Evans, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming. “There are trade-offs, but it’s incredible to be the preeminent event on the first night of competition inside the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.”

Since 1972, athletics occasions have highlighted the second week of the Games, whereas swimming has historically anchored the primary week. The final time athletics debuted within the Olympic schedule earlier than swimming was 1968 in Mexico City. But as a result of SoFi Stadium — renamed to 2028 Stadium throughout the Olympics — will host the opening ceremony and all swimming competitions, organizers will want time to flip the stadium right into a swimming venue.

Evans stated having athletics and swimming swap schedules will create alternatives for athletes in each sports activities. She stated the athletes she spoke with had been agreeable to the modifications however needed ample time to regulate their coaching.

“Not having swimming in the first week is a big change from what I’ve known,” Evans stated. “But having the opportunity for 38,000 fans to watch my favorite sport in 2028 Stadium is incredible. The schedule change also gives the swimmers the opportunity to go to the opening ceremony and have a different Olympic experience.”

In Los Angeles, ladies will account for greater than 50% of all athletes for the primary time in Olympic historical past. The Los Angeles Games will function almost 11,200 athletes competing in 51 sports activities, greater than in any earlier Olympics.