Ah, so we’re diving into the world of Olympic golf today. Yeah, golf and the Olympics—didn’t see that coming, honestly. But it seems the International Olympic Committee, or IOC if you’re feeling fancy, gave a big thumbs up to something called the Olympic Golf Mixed-Team Event for the 2028 Games in LA. Imagine that! So, what’s happening here is we’re gonna have both dudes and gals swinging clubs together, which actually sounds kinda neat, at The Riviera Country Club. Heard of it? Nope, me neither, but sounds posh.
Antony Scanlon, who’s like the big boss over at the International Golf Federation, is over the moon about this decision. I guess golf was a hit back in Paris 2024, who knew, right? And they’re riding this wave that started all the way back in Rio 2016. Scanlon mentioned something about athletes being all gung-ho about teaming up. Felt like I was reading a sports romance novel for a second there.
Oh, the format’s kinda funky too. It’s this 36-hole ordeal. First round you play like tag-teaming with clubs—alternate shot it’s called, aka foursomes. Then you switch it up to four-ball, which, correct me if I’m wrong, but sounds like a chaotic double date. Only one duo per nation too because we need to keep this exclusive, I guess. It’s slotted between the men’s and women’s solo events. Random thought: this is the first team kinda golf game at the Olympics since 1904. Wonder what they were wearing back then…
Anyhoo, the LA28 events list is huge. We’re talking 351 medal events, which is like 22 more gigs than Paris. Somehow, they’re maintaining this magic number of 10,500 athletes. Felt a bit like reading a math problem there, hit the brakes on my brain. Plus, new sports like cricket and flag football are crashing the party, gotta love it. The guys over at the Olympic Programme Commission whipped this all together, paying attention to all those principles we dream up at midnight: keep it fair, exciting, and not breaking the bank.
Golf joins this little club with other mixed teams sports like gymnastics and archery. So LA28 sounds like it’ll be quite the eclectic mix. Should be a blast just watching all these different sports-style mash-ups on the world stage. Sign me up—just for the snacks though!
