Four years is a long time to keep track of all 36 sports that will be contested at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

That’s why we’re keeping you up to speed with five stories you missed this August – one for each of the Olympic Rings. And no, they’re not colour-coded!

Success at Equestrian World Champs

A total of 66 nations competed at this year’s FEI World Championships in Aachen, Germany. Held every four years – halfway between Olympic cycles – it’s the major international championships for equestrianism.

Great Britain sent 18 athletes and walked away with 13 medals, including four golds, good enough for third on the medal table behind the hosts, Germany (20 medals and seven golds), and the 2028 Olympic hosts, the United States (eight medals, six golds).

Two Gold medals went the way of Charlotte Fry in the Individual Special and Individual Freestyle dressage, defending her World Championship titles from 2022.

Fry also won Team dressage Silver in Aachen alongside Carl Hester, Becky Moody and Fiona Bigwood.

The other two Golds came in the Team Eventing, as the team of Ros Canter, Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Gemma Stevens rode to victory, and the Individual para-dressage championship test grade V, with Sophie Wells winning her ninth World Championships medal, and first individual title. Wells has also won ten Paralympic medals since first appearance at the Games in 2012.

Picture courtesy of British Equestrian/Jon Stroud Media

Positive Signs for British Rowing at World Championships

There was also a World Championships to contest for Team GB’s Rowers in Amsterdam in August.

They finished fifth in the medal table, but it was a case of what might have been. Their tally of eight medals was the third-highest, behind the Untied States and hosts the Netherlands, but it included four silver medals – more than any other nation.

The Men’s Eight were pipped to Gold by just 0.06 seconds by the Dutch, with other near misses coming in the Women’s Eight, Women’s Quadruple Sculls, and the PR3 mixed coxed four.

Benjamin Pritchard defended his PR1 Single Sculls World title, the same event he won Paralympic Gold in two years ago, while Lauren Henry won Gold in the Single Sculls, becoming the first British woman to win the event at the World Rowing Championships.

The team’s efforts were praised by Interim Performance Director Tom Dyson

“The team as a whole have stepped on from Shanghai to once again deliver eight World Championship medals in the face of a rapidly rising global standard,” he said.

“Looking towards LA, there is a lot that the team can build on from this year with all 12 crews having finished in the qualification zone.”

Picture courtesy of British Rowing

Back-to-Back Team European Golds for GB Gymnasts

Meanwhile, Great Britain’s gymnasts have to wait until October for their World Championships, but that didn’t stop them from achieving success at the European level.

They topped the medal table with five medals, including two golds, as Joe Fraser, Harry Hepworth, Jonas Rushworth, Sol Scott and Courtney Tulloch defended their Men’s Team title

There was more success for Fraser, who won Gold in the High Bar and Bronze in the Parallel Bars.

“I’m very, very proud,” Fraser told British Gymnastics. “But you know it’s not just me it’s everyone behind the scenes, my coaches, my family, everyone contributes to these moments, it’s very special.”

Picture courtesy of Sven Hoppe/DPA/PA

Archery GB Announces New Performance System Lead

Archery GB have announced that Lucinda Whittaker has taken up a new position as Performance System Lead, with a look towards botht he 2028 and 2032 Games.

Her role spans both the Olympic and Paralympic World Class Performance Programmes, with Whittaker having previously spent over a decade in various roles at the British Mountaineering Council, first as Talent and Performance Pathway Manager and more recently as Olympic and Paralympic Program Manager.

“I’m really excited to be joining the athletes, coaches, and staff at Archery GB as Performance System Lead,” Whittaker said.

“It’s an important time for the programme with LA28 approaching and Brisbane ahead, and I’m looking forward to supporting both the Olympic and Paralympic programmes as they continue to develop and perform.”

PIcture courtesy of Archery GB

A team of 15 boxers has been selected for the 2026 European Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, next month.

The event will be the first senior continental Championships hosted by the European Boxing Federation, with 10 weight categories for both men and women.

The squad includes nine boxers who won Commonwealth Games medals, including 19-year-old Ruby White, who won Silver in the Women’s Flyweight division.

“The European Boxing Championships is a tough competition that will provide another good test for all of the boxers,” said GB Boxing’s Performance Director, Rob McCracken

“[It will] give us a clear idea of how they are developing as we look forward to next year when the Olympic qualifying campaign will get underway.”