Have you heard the latest about the LA Olympics? They’re making some serious waves for 2028! The IOC just approved a record 351 medal events on Wednesday, with many firsts. For the first time ever, we’ll see sprint swimming races – those lightning-fast 50m backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events for both men and women! And that’s not all – mixed-gender events are coming to artistic gymnastics and golf, plus there’s a new mixed 4x100m relay on the track. It’s all part of the IOC’s push to freshen up the Games and bring in new fans. LA28 will feature 22 more medal events than Paris 2024, but they’re keeping the athlete count steady at 10,500 across 31 sports. Not everyone’s thrilled, though…
Italian swimming star Thomas Ceccon didn’t mince words—or emojis—when reacting to the new event additions for the 2028 Olympics. The Italian Olympic champion shared a post on his Instagram story. The post, originally from @world_aquatics, celebrated “50’s event likely new announcement of swimming events at the Olympics.” The image was sleek—Olympic rings glowing above a bold teal-blue “50,” with the words “FREE — FLY — BREAST — BACK” listed underneath, a nod to the four strokes in swimming. In the background? An empty Olympic pool, lane markers stretching out and starting blocks marked 4 and 5 standing in silence.
But Ceccon’s reaction? Pure thumbs-down. Literally. He didn’t write a caption, but filled the story with thumbs-down emojis—plenty of them—making it clear he wasn’t thrilled about the announcement. The image looked like a celebration, but Ceccon’s response flipped the tone on its head
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But why? Honestly, no one knows for sure. Ceccon hasn’t explained his reaction publicly, leaving fans and insiders to speculate what exactly rubbed him the wrong way. That said, there are a few likely reasons—and fans in the swimming world have been talking. One big concern? Roster limits. Right now, each country can only send 26 male and 26 female swimmers to the Olympics. The United States already hit that cap last year while finalizing their men’s roster for Paris. With the addition of six new stroke 50s (yes, six more events per gender), the pressure’s going to rise. Someone fast might get left behind—not because they didn’t qualify, but because there simply isn’t room.
Then there’s the meet schedule. The Olympics already span nine days of intense swimming. Adding more events could stretch that to ten, or jam more races into each day. That’s a tough ask for swimmers doing multiple events. Imagine racing a 50 backstroke in the morning and then turning around to swim a 100 butterfly semi that evening. Some say they could cut semifinals for 200s, like they did at the 2024 Short Course Worlds, to save time. But that’s a compromise, less swim time for distance specialists.
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Not Everyone is unhappy
For a while, fans weren’t sure if Adam Peaty would swim at another Olympics. The British powerhouse had left it open-ended—until now. The moment the IOC confirmed that 50m sprint events would be on the schedule for the Los Angeles 2028 Games, Peaty didn’t wait long to share his next move. Just hours later, he posted on Instagram:
“50m sprint events have just been added to @la28games which confirms my attempt to be at my fourth Olympic Games. This is the best result for our incredible sport and will allow more people to be part of it and stay in it much longer. Thank you @world_aquatics for this amazing decision. I’ve got a good feeling about these next three years.”
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For Peaty, it’s personal. He’s the current world record holder in the 50m breaststroke set in Budapest back in 2017. The event wasn’t part of the Olympic program, and Peaty had previously said he’d only return in 2028 if it made the cut. Now? He’s all in. Interestingly, Peaty is on a modified training plan after saying he’d take a two-year break post-Paris, where he grabbed silver in 100m Breaststroke. But even with time away, his fire clearly hasn’t faded.