I agree with Oliver on this one. Badminton is an underrated (at least by North Americans) viewing experience.
Badminton is extremely popular here in Hong Kong -- almost everybody plays, at least when they're kids -- so it's featured heavily in Olympic TV coverage.
It's very easy to follow, the rules aren't much different from tennis, and if you're watching high-level players, there will be lots of long, intense rallies.
The women aren't as good as the men, of course, but you'll still be impressed by their quickness and hand-eye coordination.
Also, since badminton is dominated by Asians and very fit Europeans, the ladies' events have the potential for other aesthetic highlights as well.
I just today returned from the women's NCAA swimming championships (men's starts Wednesday). It was held in the Georgia Tech pool, which is the same pool used for the 1996 Olympics, though the facility has changed a lot (I am told). There is much less seating now.
Anyway, for whatever reason, GA Tech wouldn't let you choose a set. You either had a ticket in the blocs they sell to the various schools, or they put you in the "next best" open seat. In my case, that was in the front row, but behind the starting blocks, which is not a great place to be. So because the meet was not even remotely full, I just went up and grabbed a different seat. Now, it was not nearly as high as the highest row at Sofi is going to be, but generally in swimming, too low is bad because you can't see the whole race and, especially if you are at an angle, you can't tell who is ahead in anything but a blowout race. This will be even truer at the Olympics, where the pool will be 50 meters, not 25 yards. So if you can get a reasonable price for a seat somewhere about halfway up, that's a good deal. Try to get as close to the midpoint of the pool as possible. I suppose also that if you are very high up in one of the "end zones" you would have a clear view of who the leader is.
As for events, relays are always the most fun, and the US should be competitive in all of them (there are now four). From the way things look right now (with two years to go so factor that in), the women look to be better than the men for us. I don't see any American winning the 50 free, but we might be competitive in the 100 or 200. Claire Weinstein just won the 500 (yards) at NCAA and should/could be good for the 400 (m) in 2028. Ledecky will be a factor in the 800, which she won in Paris (and every Olympics since 2012) and is all but a lock to win the 1500, assuming no injuries or Summer McIntosh, who is nipping at her heels in other races, suddenly taking a giant leap forward. Gretchen Walsh will be strong in the 100 fly and 100 free, likely. Torri Huske had a great NCAA and will also be strong in those events. Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass should be a factor in at least one IM race, and Kate in the 200 breast, Claire Curzan in the back events .... Oh and how could I forget America's superstar female backstroker, Regan Smith? Who is also competitive in fly ...
On the men's side, right now our strongest guys are Alexy (freestyle sprinter) and Finke (distance). I am not aware of any up and coming stars in back or breast right now. Dressel wants to come back in fly, we shall see.
Swimming purists hate the mixed (M-F) medley relay, but it is a fan favorite. You might like that one.
Actually, we will have at least one strong butterflier, because Ilya Kharun who swam for Canada in 2024 became a US citizen in time to swim for the US in 2028.
One other thing: for the first time at the Olympics, they will have in 2028 50-meter races of back, breast, and fly. (Until now, the only 50 was free). Those will be over just like that--under thirty seconds--but they will be exciting. And you can "make history" by being there.
Because 50 is in a certain respect the easiest race to swim--as one swimmer said to me, all swimmers convince themselves that "I can do anything for twenty seconds"--there will be tons of entries, so many, many prelim heats. But of course the medals will be awarded only in the finals and those will be over before you can blink.
I vote for boxing, judo or Taekwondo, and Rugby 7s. The US is usually pretty competative at Rugby 7s and although there are a few abstract rules, it's fun and easy enough to follow.
I saw boxing in 1984. The flyweights were fun since they didn't look like they could punch each other hard enough to do any damage, so their matches were full of flurries.
Then the heavyweights came out. One caught another under the chin with an uppercut that lifted his victim 6 inches off the ground. The poor bastard was still unconscious 20 minutes later when he was gurneyed off to an ambulance.
Another vote here for rugby 7s. It's wildly entertaining, and matches are very short, so you can see lots of teams play in a single session. As Nathan says, there are a few rugby-specific rules you'd need to pick up, but the gist of the game is the same as American football, so it's never difficult to know what's going on in general terms.
I don't know what rugby 7s fans in the USA are like, but my experiences attending the famous annual Hong Kong rugby 7s tournament, and some regular rugby matches here and in the UK, indicate that rugby fans are a lot of fun in general. It's fun to be in a stadium full of people swilling pints and paying close, but not obsessive, attention to the matches.
With regards to ticket pricing, it seems like the process will be slightly different this time, but in 2024 there were a lot of different pools of tickets released at different times. So I paid a huge price for the first track and field ticket I bought, not knowing if I'd have access to others later, but I ended up going to something like five different sessions of track and field, and I think all of them were cheaper than the first session I bought. I was somewhat surprised at how many tickets I was able to get. I don't know how different it will be this time in terms of supply (I wouldn't be surprised if LA has somewhat higher capacity for many events) and demand (there's a huge domestic market in the US, but it won't be as easy for throngs of British and Dutch fans to come to LA).
I went to Paris 2024 and mentioned a few of my favorite events the last time you asked, but I'll repeat some of them for the benefit of any non-paying subscribers.
Golf was very nice. Better than the regular season PGA Tour event I've been to; maybe not as good a field as a major, but not horribly crowded.
Beach volleyball was excellent. The US should qualify two women's teams and two men's teams; the men might not be medal contenders, but any American women who qualify will have a great chance at winning a medal. I went to at least three different sessions, one with seats almost court level behind the end line, another at the bottom of the main seating level in a corner, and the last one near the top of the stadium, looking out over the court toward the Eiffel Tower. Closer is better, but it'll still be a good view from anywhere in the stadium.
Track and field was fantastic, but I'm a distance running nerd. Better seats are probably more useful for the field events (and it's nice to be closer to the finish line for the sprints), but up high to see the whole track is fine for any races of a lap or more.
Archery was cool because it was a medal event (women's team or something like that) and the Korean fans were going crazy.
I didn't see any Olympic tennis, but I did go to Wimbledon in 2012. I managed to get tickets for one of the show courts and saw Venus Williams. Unfortunately, she was terrible that day, starting her match with two straight double faults and losing in straight sets. I'd say in-person tennis spectacting is similar to golf in that you get to walk around the outside courts, get close to the athletes, and see a lot of different players.
Rugby sevens was pretty good. The matches are very short, so you get to see a bunch of different countries in one session. It's also good from the cheap seats. I'm used to watching NFL games from the top level, so the view of rugby sevens wasn't all that different.
Handball is decent in person. When I saw it in Paris it was in a fairly small venue and the atmosphere was good. It's a bit of a weird sport--I don't really understand what niche it serves in Europe. Is it for people who are too short to be good at basketball, or too unathletic to be good at soccer?
Rowing wasn't great. Very hard to see what's going on except when the boats are right in front of you. Interestingly enough, rowing is usually a 2000m event, but will only be 1500m at the 2028 Olympics.
I went to the Henley Regatta in 1987. Great people watching event -- all these aristocratic Princess Di types in hats 3 feet in diameter. But I only saw about 15 seconds of somebody rowing by.
Much like the Ascot horse race scene in "My Fair Lady."
I want to see swimming at Sofi, womens gymnastics, and some track at the Coliseum. My boys will want to see basketball. But I can't even imagine what traffic is going to be like. They're going to have to tell everyone to WFH.
My judo training partner signed up and is going to try to get tix for me, him and coach. beyond that I don't know what would be exciting enough to power through the anticipated hassle. The Valley events look potentially fun.
If the waves and conditions are good, surfing at Trussell can be pretty spectacular. But, I can’t even imagine the parking nightmare, and if the conditions are lousy, or there isn’t much swell, it will be very boring.
It all sounds so tiring and confusing. Sure, I would love to claim I was at a gold medal match won by a USA team, or gold medal race for track & field, but those tickets are not going to be readily available.
I would prioritize tickets for events where the arena provided a nice public place to hang out and mingle with international fans.
If you found weightlifting entertaining in 1984, you would almost certainly like it even better today. The staging of international competitions is much improved, using music to psych the audience up along with the athletes. Weightlifting at the international level is explosive, dramatic, and even surprisingly graceful, but above all, with heavy barbells hoisted overhead, heroic. But you know that already.
I would go for Badminton, the thrill of deep Asian rivalries in a sport most Americans don't care about or understand.
Can I follow badminton live or is it too quick?
It is fairly easy to follow, you might miss the odd serve, but most points are rallies you can easily make out.
I agree with Oliver on this one. Badminton is an underrated (at least by North Americans) viewing experience.
Badminton is extremely popular here in Hong Kong -- almost everybody plays, at least when they're kids -- so it's featured heavily in Olympic TV coverage.
It's very easy to follow, the rules aren't much different from tennis, and if you're watching high-level players, there will be lots of long, intense rallies.
The women aren't as good as the men, of course, but you'll still be impressed by their quickness and hand-eye coordination.
Also, since badminton is dominated by Asians and very fit Europeans, the ladies' events have the potential for other aesthetic highlights as well.
I just today returned from the women's NCAA swimming championships (men's starts Wednesday). It was held in the Georgia Tech pool, which is the same pool used for the 1996 Olympics, though the facility has changed a lot (I am told). There is much less seating now.
Anyway, for whatever reason, GA Tech wouldn't let you choose a set. You either had a ticket in the blocs they sell to the various schools, or they put you in the "next best" open seat. In my case, that was in the front row, but behind the starting blocks, which is not a great place to be. So because the meet was not even remotely full, I just went up and grabbed a different seat. Now, it was not nearly as high as the highest row at Sofi is going to be, but generally in swimming, too low is bad because you can't see the whole race and, especially if you are at an angle, you can't tell who is ahead in anything but a blowout race. This will be even truer at the Olympics, where the pool will be 50 meters, not 25 yards. So if you can get a reasonable price for a seat somewhere about halfway up, that's a good deal. Try to get as close to the midpoint of the pool as possible. I suppose also that if you are very high up in one of the "end zones" you would have a clear view of who the leader is.
As for events, relays are always the most fun, and the US should be competitive in all of them (there are now four). From the way things look right now (with two years to go so factor that in), the women look to be better than the men for us. I don't see any American winning the 50 free, but we might be competitive in the 100 or 200. Claire Weinstein just won the 500 (yards) at NCAA and should/could be good for the 400 (m) in 2028. Ledecky will be a factor in the 800, which she won in Paris (and every Olympics since 2012) and is all but a lock to win the 1500, assuming no injuries or Summer McIntosh, who is nipping at her heels in other races, suddenly taking a giant leap forward. Gretchen Walsh will be strong in the 100 fly and 100 free, likely. Torri Huske had a great NCAA and will also be strong in those events. Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass should be a factor in at least one IM race, and Kate in the 200 breast, Claire Curzan in the back events .... Oh and how could I forget America's superstar female backstroker, Regan Smith? Who is also competitive in fly ...
On the men's side, right now our strongest guys are Alexy (freestyle sprinter) and Finke (distance). I am not aware of any up and coming stars in back or breast right now. Dressel wants to come back in fly, we shall see.
Swimming purists hate the mixed (M-F) medley relay, but it is a fan favorite. You might like that one.
Thanks.
Okay, cheering for all-time great Katie Ledecky sounds good.
Ledecky is aging out of the shorter races, but should still be competitive in the 800 (if not a clear favorite) and the favorite for the 1500.
Actually, we will have at least one strong butterflier, because Ilya Kharun who swam for Canada in 2024 became a US citizen in time to swim for the US in 2028.
Synchronized Swimming with Live Cattle.
Bangladesh used to be the prohibitive favorite.
The pool will get messy real quick.
Wrestling
One other thing: for the first time at the Olympics, they will have in 2028 50-meter races of back, breast, and fly. (Until now, the only 50 was free). Those will be over just like that--under thirty seconds--but they will be exciting. And you can "make history" by being there.
Because 50 is in a certain respect the easiest race to swim--as one swimmer said to me, all swimmers convince themselves that "I can do anything for twenty seconds"--there will be tons of entries, so many, many prelim heats. But of course the medals will be awarded only in the finals and those will be over before you can blink.
Is this THE Michael Anton? From Loomis?
Equestrian Show Jumping at Santa Anita
I went to that in 1984. It was good.
my late wife was there, though we hadn't yet met
I vote for boxing, judo or Taekwondo, and Rugby 7s. The US is usually pretty competative at Rugby 7s and although there are a few abstract rules, it's fun and easy enough to follow.
I saw boxing in 1984. The flyweights were fun since they didn't look like they could punch each other hard enough to do any damage, so their matches were full of flurries.
Then the heavyweights came out. One caught another under the chin with an uppercut that lifted his victim 6 inches off the ground. The poor bastard was still unconscious 20 minutes later when he was gurneyed off to an ambulance.
Another vote here for rugby 7s. It's wildly entertaining, and matches are very short, so you can see lots of teams play in a single session. As Nathan says, there are a few rugby-specific rules you'd need to pick up, but the gist of the game is the same as American football, so it's never difficult to know what's going on in general terms.
I don't know what rugby 7s fans in the USA are like, but my experiences attending the famous annual Hong Kong rugby 7s tournament, and some regular rugby matches here and in the UK, indicate that rugby fans are a lot of fun in general. It's fun to be in a stadium full of people swilling pints and paying close, but not obsessive, attention to the matches.
Who are some candidates for greatest ever in his or her sport who are likely to be at the 2028 Olympics besides swimmer Katie Ledecky?
World-record holder Mondo Duplantis in pole vault. Louisiana-born, but represents Sweden, his mother's native country.
ah, the ole dual loyalty
both lacrosse and rugby are easy to pick up, if not particularly close to VV. also they won't be likely to have premium prices
Badminton is amazing, at least on TV, and when you don't have both sides trying to lose (as happened in 2012)
With regards to ticket pricing, it seems like the process will be slightly different this time, but in 2024 there were a lot of different pools of tickets released at different times. So I paid a huge price for the first track and field ticket I bought, not knowing if I'd have access to others later, but I ended up going to something like five different sessions of track and field, and I think all of them were cheaper than the first session I bought. I was somewhat surprised at how many tickets I was able to get. I don't know how different it will be this time in terms of supply (I wouldn't be surprised if LA has somewhat higher capacity for many events) and demand (there's a huge domestic market in the US, but it won't be as easy for throngs of British and Dutch fans to come to LA).
I went to Paris 2024 and mentioned a few of my favorite events the last time you asked, but I'll repeat some of them for the benefit of any non-paying subscribers.
Golf was very nice. Better than the regular season PGA Tour event I've been to; maybe not as good a field as a major, but not horribly crowded.
Beach volleyball was excellent. The US should qualify two women's teams and two men's teams; the men might not be medal contenders, but any American women who qualify will have a great chance at winning a medal. I went to at least three different sessions, one with seats almost court level behind the end line, another at the bottom of the main seating level in a corner, and the last one near the top of the stadium, looking out over the court toward the Eiffel Tower. Closer is better, but it'll still be a good view from anywhere in the stadium.
Track and field was fantastic, but I'm a distance running nerd. Better seats are probably more useful for the field events (and it's nice to be closer to the finish line for the sprints), but up high to see the whole track is fine for any races of a lap or more.
Archery was cool because it was a medal event (women's team or something like that) and the Korean fans were going crazy.
I didn't see any Olympic tennis, but I did go to Wimbledon in 2012. I managed to get tickets for one of the show courts and saw Venus Williams. Unfortunately, she was terrible that day, starting her match with two straight double faults and losing in straight sets. I'd say in-person tennis spectacting is similar to golf in that you get to walk around the outside courts, get close to the athletes, and see a lot of different players.
Rugby sevens was pretty good. The matches are very short, so you get to see a bunch of different countries in one session. It's also good from the cheap seats. I'm used to watching NFL games from the top level, so the view of rugby sevens wasn't all that different.
Handball is decent in person. When I saw it in Paris it was in a fairly small venue and the atmosphere was good. It's a bit of a weird sport--I don't really understand what niche it serves in Europe. Is it for people who are too short to be good at basketball, or too unathletic to be good at soccer?
Rowing wasn't great. Very hard to see what's going on except when the boats are right in front of you. Interestingly enough, rowing is usually a 2000m event, but will only be 1500m at the 2028 Olympics.
I went to the Henley Regatta in 1987. Great people watching event -- all these aristocratic Princess Di types in hats 3 feet in diameter. But I only saw about 15 seconds of somebody rowing by.
Much like the Ascot horse race scene in "My Fair Lady."
I want to see swimming at Sofi, womens gymnastics, and some track at the Coliseum. My boys will want to see basketball. But I can't even imagine what traffic is going to be like. They're going to have to tell everyone to WFH.
During the 1984 Olympics, the freeways were empty. My friend found a free parking place in front of the statues outside the Coliseum.
My judo training partner signed up and is going to try to get tix for me, him and coach. beyond that I don't know what would be exciting enough to power through the anticipated hassle. The Valley events look potentially fun.
If the waves and conditions are good, surfing at Trussell can be pretty spectacular. But, I can’t even imagine the parking nightmare, and if the conditions are lousy, or there isn’t much swell, it will be very boring.
It all sounds so tiring and confusing. Sure, I would love to claim I was at a gold medal match won by a USA team, or gold medal race for track & field, but those tickets are not going to be readily available.
I would prioritize tickets for events where the arena provided a nice public place to hang out and mingle with international fans.
If you found weightlifting entertaining in 1984, you would almost certainly like it even better today. The staging of international competitions is much improved, using music to psych the audience up along with the athletes. Weightlifting at the international level is explosive, dramatic, and even surprisingly graceful, but above all, with heavy barbells hoisted overhead, heroic. But you know that already.