Flag football, lacrosse among sports added to 2028 Olympics

• It will be the first time flag football and squash are played at the Olympic level.

What they're saying: "The choice of these five new sports is in line with the American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States," International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said in a statement.

• Olympics officials evaluated new sports on criteria that included gender equality, youth relevance, global appeal to fans and host country interest.

Flashback: Baseball and softball were most recently played at Tokyo 2020, where Japan beat the U.S. and won the gold medal.

• Cricket was played at Paris 1900.
• Lacrosse was played at St. Louis 1904 and London 1908.

Separately, modern pentathlon and weightlifting will also be on the 2028 slate of events, neither of which was part of the original program.

The big picture: The International Olympic Committee broke its usual process in deciding where to host the 2028 Olympics by awarding it at the same time as 2024.

• Paris, which will host next year's Olympics, and Los Angeles both had strong bids in 2017.
• "I have long believed that we have an incredible opportunity in Los Angeles to create the most compelling Games, not just for us, but for the world," said Casey Wasserman, chairperson of the 2028 Olympics, in a statement on Monday.

Go deeper... Los Angeles secures 2028 Olympics deal