The Olympic story, sport by sport.

Tennis: in, out and back

Search summaries of Olympics.com and of a BNP Paribas tennis history say tennis was on the programme at Athens 1896, left after 1924, was a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984, and returned as a full medal sport at Seoul 1988. Why it left is given two ways: the Olympics.com summary points to disputes between the international federation and the IOC over amateur status, while the BNP Paribas history ties it to a clash with the Davis Cup schedule. The Olympics.com page timed out, so neither is confirmed on an IOC page. The events now, as summarised, are men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles.

Wheelchair tennis

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is summarised as recording that wheelchair tennis began in California in 1976, developed by Brad Parks together with Jeff Minnebraker; the IPC page returned an error when fetched, so this is unconfirmed. Two IPC pages, both seen in summaries, differ on its debut: one says it was a demonstration event at Seoul 1988 and a full medal sport at Barcelona 1992, the other calls Barcelona 1992 its first Paralympic appearance. Both agree on medals from 1992. The IPC is summarised as recording quad events from Athens 2004.

Badminton: from demonstration to 1992

Search summaries of the BWF's Olympic history say badminton was a demonstration sport at Munich 1972 and an exhibition sport at Seoul 1988, and that the IOC voted unanimously, at 5:45 pm on 5 June 1985 at its 90th Session, to include it at Barcelona 1992. The BWF page itself returned an error. Bernard Adams confirms full medal status at Barcelona after a 1985 decision. NBC Olympics confirms the 1972 demonstration, a 1992 debut with four events, men's and women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles added at Atlanta 1996, giving five events.

Para badminton

The IPC, in a summarised feature, says the BWF has governed para badminton since 2011 and that it made its Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020, held in 2021. UK Sport confirms the Tokyo 2020 debut.

Squash: the long campaign

Squash tried several times before it succeeded:

• 2005, Singapore. Squash missed a place on the London 2012 programme at the IOC Session, falling short of the two-thirds majority, according to summarised press reports.
• 2009, Copenhagen. It was passed over for Rio 2016 in favour of golf and rugby sevens, by the same summarised reports.
• September 2013, Buenos Aires. In the vote to add one sport for 2020, Reuters reported, wrestling received 49 votes, baseball and softball 24 and squash 22, of 95.
• 2018. A report, seen in a summary, says the world federation had lobbied since 2005, failed three times and planned a bid for Paris 2024. Squash was not on the Paris 2024 programme; no IOC source stating why was read.

LA28, approved 16 October 2023

Al Jazeera reported that the IOC, at its Session in Mumbai on 16 October 2023, approved squash for the Los Angeles 2028 Games together with cricket, flag football, lacrosse and baseball-softball, as a single package with two votes against, for the 2028 Games only. US Squash, World Squash and the PSA welcomed it jointly that day; squash at LA28 has two medal events, men's and women's singles. The Squash Site, reporting World Squash's rebrand in January 2025, notes that LA28 will be squash's Olympic debut.

LA28: the three racquet sports on the programme

NBC Sports reports the LA28 Games running from the opening ceremony on Friday 14 July 2028 to the closing ceremony on Sunday 30 July 2028. LA28 labels its schedule subject to change. The venues below are as named in LA28's own Daily Competition Schedule (version 4.0), and the days of play are as NBC Sports gives them:

Two notes. LA28's July 2024 venue announcement named badminton's venue the USC Sports Center, and whether that is the same arena as the Galen Center was not confirmed. For squash, Fox LA agrees with NBC on the two medal days, while RevSportz, seen in a summary, gives a single medal date of 24 July. Which badminton scoring LA28 will use was not confirmed; the BWF's 3x15 scoring is due to take effect on 4 January 2027. More is on LA28.

The LA28 Paralympic Games

The IPC says the LA28 Paralympic Games run from 15 to 27 August 2028, with wheelchair tennis at the Tennis Center in Carson and para badminton at the USC Sports Center. A BWF schedule page, seen only in a summary, names the para badminton venue as the Galen Center in Exposition Park. Squash is not a Paralympic sport, according to a summary of a Squash Australia page that was not opened.

Padel and pickleball: outside the programme

Padel

Padel is not on the LA28 programme. On 20 October 2026, when it and Premier Padel declared that date World Padel Day, the FIP renewed its call for padel to be included at Brisbane 2032. The FIP lists recognition by the Olympic Council of Asia, the European Olympic Committees, ANOCA, ODESUR, the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games and FISU, and says padel featured at the 2023 European Games and at the 2026 South American, Mediterranean and Asian Games. Its list does not claim IOC recognition, and no IOC source was found either way.

Pickleball

Pickleball is on no Olympic or Paralympic programme. The Dink reported in November 2025 that the IOC works only with international federations it recognises, so a single, unified world federation is treated as a first step for any bid. As of a European Pickleball Federation release of 4 August 2026, the WPF and GPF had not unified; their story is on pickleball on Bainbridge Island. No IOC statement on pickleball was found.

Where each sport stands today is on the Olympic and Paralympic programme.