Cuba celebrate their gold medal win at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Photo: Photosport
The International Olympic Committee has approved cricket, squash, Lacrosse, flag football and baseball-softball to be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Games as it looks to tap into new global audiences.
Each host city, under IOC rules, can request the inclusion of several sports for their edition of the Games.
The five sports had already been given the nod from the powerful IOC Executive Board last week, with the session in Mumbai approving its recommendation with a show of hands.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee is welcoming the sports' inclusion, along with beach sprint rowing, a format of the coastal rowing discipline, which replaces the men's and women's lightweight double sculls events.
Cricket and squash hold significance in New Zealand given the success of the country's national teams and athletes.
NZOC president Liz Dawson said New Zealand also has a passionate softball and baseball community, as well as coastal rowing, lacrosse and flag football federations.
"The addition of these five sports is great news for New Zealand, and particularly for our dedicated squash and cricket communities," Dawson said.
"We have a proud history in squash and cricket and would love to see a New Zealand squash athlete or cricket team on the Olympic podium in the future.
"We also know we have real pedigree in softball and baseball, and we look forward to working with our lacrosse, coastal rowing and flag football communities as they enter the Olympic family."
New Zealand's Megan Archer scores a goal past Australia's Madeleine Russell during a women's international Lacrosse match. Photo: Photosport
NZOC chief executive Nicki Nicol said the addition of the five sports will see the Olympic Games reach more people than ever before.
"We saw the success of surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding which debuted at the Tokyo Games and engaged new audiences in the Olympic Games," Nicol said.
Cricket, which enjoys a massive following in India and has a fast growing global audience, returns to the Games after more than a century, having appeared once at the 1900 Olympics, with a proposed six-team Twenty20 format for men and women.
New Zealand cricketer Suzie Bates. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The IOC hopes cricket's inclusion will activate and engage a large, new Olympic audience, especially among Asian fans of the sport.
The annual Indian Premier League cricket tournament, with an estimated brand value of $8.4 billion, is one of the richest leagues in the world across sports and continues to attract the world's top players and coaches to India.
The tournament is played in the same T20 format that will feature during the LA Games.
While all five sports' inclusion is for only one edition of the Games, they are banking on the boost provided by participation to spur growth and remain an attractive Olympic product going into the next four-year cycle.
Flag football is a non-contact format of American football played by teams of five. American football last featured as a demonstration sport in the 1932 LA Games.
"We are convinced that flag football will offer an exciting new dimension to the Games -- uniting them, for the first time in history, with America's number one sport in its youngest, most accessible and inclusive format," said Pierre Trochet, head of the International Federation of American Football.
Baseball has featured in several previous Games. It was added to the 2020 Tokyo program after being left off in 2012 and 2016, but it will not be a part of the Paris Games.
Softball, the female counterpart to baseball, has appeared at five previous editions of the Summer Games and was also left off the Paris agenda.
Lacrosse twice appeared as a medal sport at the Olympics, in 1904 and 1908, while squash had long pushed for inclusion, most recently in 2013 for the 2020 Olympics.
Squash New Zealand chief executive Martin Dowson says it's great news for the sport and for New Zealand.
"Having squash at the Olympic Games provides great exposure for the sport we love, and we hope this will inspire even more New Zealanders to take up the sport," he said.
"New Zealand has a really proud legacy in squash, we've produced some amazing athletes over the years and it'd be really special to see a New Zealand squash player on the Olympic podium."
Paul Coll has held his composure in a gigantic five game battle to win the US Open of Squash. Photo: supplied
Fresh off winning the US Open of Squash New Zealand's Paul Coll says it'd be a dream come true to go to the Olympic Games.
"I'd be 36 by that point so definitely getting on a bit but I'd love to give it a go if the body's still up to it," Coll said.
"My Commonwealth Games experiences have been unreal, it's such a cool environment and the Olympics is a whole level up from that so it'd be amazing to get to experience that."
- Reuters/RNZ
