LA28 released the competition schedule for the 2028 Olympic Games that will likely draw worldwide criticism for failing to maximize the exposure and competitive opportunities for arguably the Games’ biggest star.
The Games’ track and field schedule makes it all but impossible for American sprinter/hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the two-time Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion and reigning world champion in the 400 meters, to attempt an unprecedented sweep of the 400 and 400 hurdles gold medals.
The schedule also eliminates one of McLaughlin-Levrone’s back-up plans – a 400 hurdles and 200 double.
“The world’s loss,” said Bob Kersee, McLaughlin-Levrone’s coach.
LA28, the International Olympic Committee and World Athletics, track and field’s global governing body, will also face criticism for another part of the track competition schedule. Women sprinters will have to run at least three rounds, perhaps even four, in one day to claim gold in the 100-meter dash.
The Olympic “(f)inals will feature in 17 of the 20 sessions, with the schedule carefully crafted to allow the maximum number of potential doubles – such as the 100m & 200m, 200m & 400m (plus relays), 800m & 1500m, 1500m & 5000m, 5000m & 10,000m, and long jump & triple jump,” World Athletics said in a statement Wednesday. “This opens the door for stars such as Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden to emulate the heroics of LA 1984 Olympic legend Carl Lewis, while also enabling middle- and long-distance doubles reminiscent of past Olympic greats.”
The women’s 100 competition opens with a preliminary round and Round 1, essentially the quarterfinals, in July 15’s morning session, the opening session of the track competition. The women’s 100 semifinals and finals will be held that night. The preliminary round features non-world class athletes who rarely make it past the quarterfinals.
The scheduling will raise the question on why women sprinters will have to run at least three races in a single day while competitors in the men’s 100 have their three (or four) races spread out over two days, as has been the schedule for both men and women at previous Olympics. The men’s 100 preliminary round and Round 1 are also Saturday morning. The men’s semifinals and final are in the July 16 evening round.
“It is in the spirit of collaboration between World Athletics, LA28, Olympic Broadcasting Services, IOC and NBC as Host Broadcaster that we have landed on an athletics programme that will start with a bang as our women’s sprinters take centre stage on day one and then the men’s sprinters on day two to maximise and sustain global interest after the Opening Ceremony,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement. “It is a schedule that is both innovative but also honours tradition, with the men’s marathon on the final day, and, with one eye on LA84, athletes can dare to dream to emulate Olympic legends of the past through the compelling proposition of the maximum amount of potential doubles.”
But the most anticipated double before Wednesday’s announcement was an attempt by McLaughlin-Levrone to capture the 400 and 400 hurdles gold medals.
After winning the Olympic 400 hurdles titles in 2021 and 2024 and lowering the world record in the event six times, McLaughlin-Levrone, 26, and Kersee this past season took aim at breaking the 40-year-old 400-meter world record of 47.60 seconds set by East Germany’s Marita Koch in 1985.
McLaughlin-Levrone won the 400 gold medal at the World Championships in Tokyo in September in 47.78 seconds, the second-fastest time in history and an American and World Championships record. She and Kersee then said they hoped to attempt a 400/400 hurdles double in Los Angeles.
“She could do it,” Kersee said in a phone interview with the Southern California News Group on Wednesday. “She’s proven she’s capable. Yeah, she’s capable of doing it. So why not give her the opportunity?
“We’re a sport fighting for attention. So why do you make this decision?” Kersee continued, referring to the schedule not maximizing McLaughlin-Levrone’s exposure. “This shows the weakness of our sport. We’ve got the stars but we don’t get any help from the top.”
Kersee expressed frustration with Coe, a two-time Olympic 1,500 champion for Great Britain. Coe’s showdown with countryman Steve Ovett in the 800 and 1,500 overshadowed the rest of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Ovett upset Coe in the 800 with Coe rebounding in the 1,500 later in the Games.
“I remember following Seb trying to double in the 800 and 1,500 and what he and Ovett were trying to do is what the sport needs, that excitement,” said Kersee, who has coached athletes to 30 Olympic gold medals and nearly 60 world titles.
World Athletics did not respond to direct questions from SCNG about whether creating a schedule that would enable a 400/400 hurdles double was considered.
To complete a 400/400 hurdles double, McLaughlin-Levrone would have to run both events on two days. The women’s 400 opens with first-round heats on July 15 at the Coliseum. On July 18, the first round of the 400 hurdles are scheduled for a morning session, with the 400 semifinals slated for the night session.
The hurdles semifinal is on the night of July 20, with the 400 final sometime between an hour to 90 minutes later.
The 400 hurdles final is scheduled for July 22 with the women’s 200 final later that same session.
“It could be done if they worked with the schedule,” Kersee said of a double gold-medal attempt. “Apparently they don’t feel that that’s important.”
A 400/200 double could still be possible for McLaughlin-Levrone. She would face a schedule of 400 semifinal on July 18, 200 Round 1 on July 19, 400 final a day later with the 200 semis on July 21 and the final July 22.
McLaughlin-Levrone won a 200 race in Los Angeles in May 2024 by beating eventual 2024 Olympic 200 champion Gabby Thomas. She also won the 200 later that season at the Diamond League’s Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels. But she those are the only two 200s she has raced since 2018. She has only raced the event one other time outdoors since graduating from Union Catholic High School in New Jersey in 2017
McLaughlin-Levrone and Team USA will be heavily favored for a second gold medal in the 4×400 relay on July 24, the final day of the track and field competition.
LA28, World Athletics and the International Olympic Committee have already come under criticism for shifting track and field, traditionally the Games’ marquee sport, to the first week of the Los Angeles Games from its usual spot in the Games second week to accommodate the logistics surrounding using SoFi Stadium as the swimming venue. Swimming is normally held during the first week of the Olympics.
LA28, the IOC and the sport’s international federation, in track’s case World Athletics, coordinate on each sport’s Games competition schedule with the international federations generally having the most influence over their sports schedule.
Kersee cited Cuba’s Alberto Juantorena completing an unusual 800/400 gold medal-winning double at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, with Juantorena setting the world record in the 800. McLaughlin-Levrone’s coach also alluded to officials adjusting the 1996 Games’ schedule in Atlanta to accommodate Michael Johnson’s attempt become the first man to win the 400 and 200 gold medals in the same Olympics.
Valerie Brisco-Hooks, coached by Kersee, was the first athlete to win the 400 and 200 in the same Olympics, sweeping the events at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been living with naysayers all my life,” Kersee said. “Nobody was looking at a 400/800 double and Alberto Juantorena did it and it was the biggest story of the Games and they got a world record out of it.
“I don’t understand. If they adjust the schedule so Michael Johnson is able to double in the 400 and 200, why not? I just don’t understand it.”
The Los Angeles Games, the first summer Olympics to include more female athletes (50.5%) than men, will feature 51 sports played out at 49 venues across 18 competition zones. Los Angeles’ third Olympic Games open July 14 and run through the closing ceremony on July 30.
The Games’ first medals will be awarded in women’s triathlon on July 15 in Venice. The men’s marathon will be the Olympics’ final competition.
The women’s team gymnastics final is scheduled for July 18 at Crypto.com Arena, with Team USA seeking a fourth gold medal in the event in five Olympics. The women’s individual all-around final is July 20.
Fans could get their first chance to watch 9-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky on the opening day of swimming at SoFi on July 22, with the women’s 400 freestyle heats in the morning session and the final in a night session that also includes both the men’s and women’s 400 freestyle relay finals.
What LA 28 is calling “Super Saturday,” July 29 will feature 26 finals in 23 sports including swimming, women’s soccer and basketball, the women’s marathon, and men’s beach volleyball.
Source link
