Sudan begins the long road to the Los Angeles Olympic Games
The Sudanese Olympic Committee is entering a new four-year period of preparations with the aim of competing at the LA28 Summer Olympic Games, while the country’s sports leadership is trying to distance itself, both organizationally and symbolically, from a period marked by war, displacement, and the destruction of infrastructure. According to a report by Inside the Games, the national Olympic committee is assessing the state of preparations for the next Summer Olympic Games in the United States of America, with emphasis placed on the recovery of the sports system after the conflict that has deeply affected Sudan. Such a process is not only about athletes’ training, but also about restoring institutional stability, the availability of competition venues, international support, and the possibility of reopening the path to qualifying competitions for young athletes. In a country where war has affected civilian life, public services, and transport connectivity, sports preparations depend on circumstances that often remain invisible in stable systems. For that reason, Sudan’s road to Los Angeles cannot be viewed only as a sports cycle, but also as a test of the national Olympic movement’s ability to maintain continuity under extremely difficult conditions.
LA28 as a distant goal and a concrete deadline
According to official information from the LA28 organizing committee, the Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be held from July 14 to 30, 2028, and the Paralympic Games from August 15 to 27 of the same year. The organizers state that the program will include more than 55 Olympic and Paralympic sports, more than 800 events, and more than 3000 hours of competition, which clearly shows the scale of the event for which national Olympic committees must prepare years in advance. For Sudan, that deadline is especially demanding because preparations are taking place in the shadow of the war that began on April 15, 2023, with the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. In such circumstances, planning participation in the Games requires more than the usual sports program: it is necessary to identify athletes who can continue training, provide them with a safe environment, find competitions where they can achieve qualification standards, and maintain communication with federations that have also been affected by the crisis. For Sudanese sport, LA28 is therefore simultaneously a distant goal and a very concrete time pressure, because qualification cycles in certain sports begin significantly before the Games themselves.
The war has changed the conditions in which sport functions at all
The humanitarian context in Sudan remains one of the most difficult in the world. According to UNHCR’s appeal for 2026, the conflict that broke out in April 2023 led to the world’s largest crisis of displacement, humanitarian protection, and assistance, and by the end of 2025 approximately 14 million people had been forced to leave their homes since the beginning of the war. The same document states that almost 12 million people remain displaced, showing how deeply everyday life in the country and the region has been disrupted. In the 2026 report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, it is emphasized that during 2025 changes were recorded on the front lines and in the security dynamic, especially in Khartoum and Al Jazirah State, where relative calm enabled more than 2.2 million people to return to their places of origin. Nevertheless, OCHA simultaneously warns that the consequences of the war have left deep marks on the lives of children, families, and local communities. In such an environment, sport loses regularity, and training becomes dependent on security, access to transport, the condition of facilities, and the possibility for coaches and athletes to remain together at all.
The Olympic committee is trying to maintain continuity
In the official profile of the Sudanese Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee states that the national committee was recognized in 1959, and Ahmed Abuelgasim Hashim is listed as president. This information is important because it shows that Sudan has a long formal Olympic history, although current challenges go beyond the usual problems of sports development. According to the profile of the Association of National Olympic Committees, Hashim was elected in 2021 and also participated in the work of continental and international Olympic structures, including functions connected with ANOCA and Olympic Solidarity. Such international networking can be important at moments when the domestic system does not have enough resources for the independent preparation of athletes. For small and war-affected Olympic committees, links with continental federations, the IOC, and solidarity programs often mean the difference between a symbolic appearance and a real possibility for athletes to have structured preparations. In Sudan’s case, the continuity of the committee’s work also represents a message that the Olympic movement is trying to survive despite political and security instability.
IOC support was also crucial for Paris 2024
According to the 2024 annual report of the Olympic Solidarity and NOC Services program, the IOC, together with continental associations, provided support to national Olympic committees affected by extraordinary circumstances, and Sudan is explicitly listed among the committees directly affected by civil war. The report states that Sudanese athletes received assistance for preparations and participation at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games through the Olympic scholarship program, which enabled preparations for five female athletes and four male athletes. This support was important because the national system at that time was already operating under conditions of seriously damaged infrastructure and uncertainty. Although scholarships cannot by themselves solve the deep consequences of war, they enable continuity of training, access to professional work, and at least partial inclusion in the international sports calendar. For the cycle toward LA28, similar mechanisms could again play a major role, especially if domestic preparations remain limited by security and logistical problems.
Paris 2024 showed how vulnerable Sudan’s participation is
At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Sudan competed on a modest scale, reflecting both sporting and non-sporting circumstances in the country. According to available Olympic data, Sudanese athletes competed in athletics, rowing, and swimming, and the participation had special meaning precisely because it came during a period when the war limited the normal work of federations and clubs. Sudanese marathon runner Yaseen Abdalla was among the more recognizable names of the delegation, while the swimming and rowing appearances showed the range of sports in which Sudan is still trying to maintain a presence. The competitive result was not in the foreground as much as the very fact that the national delegation managed to reach the Games. In the context of LA28, the experience from Paris can serve as a starting point for a more realistic plan: identifying sports in which there are athletes with international potential, ensuring continuity for them, and including them earlier in qualifying competitions.
Displaced athletes and the broader Olympic response
Sudan’s sporting reality does not end with the national delegation. According to the International Olympic Committee, the Refugee Olympic Team for Paris 2024 brought together athletes from 11 countries of origin, with the support of 15 host national Olympic committees and across 12 sports. In its announcements for Paris 2024, UNHCR emphasized that refugee athletes competed under the Olympic flag as part of a broader effort to give displaced persons visibility and sporting continuity. For Sudan, this is especially relevant because the war has caused mass displacement within the country and across borders. When an athlete leaves home, a club, or a national system, his or her path toward a major competition becomes more complex: they must find a safe place to live, a coach, competitive status, and institutional support. That is why, in Sudan’s case, the national Olympic committee and Olympic programs for refugees are not viewed separately, but as two parts of a broader story about preserving sporting identity in circumstances of forced displacement.
Rebuilding infrastructure will be as important as choosing candidates
Preparations for LA28 would usually consist of assessing results, investing in priority sports, sending athletes to qualifying competitions, and working with national federations. In Sudan, however, such a plan must be supplemented with more basic questions: where athletes can train, whether facilities are safe, whether equipment exists, whether coaches can travel, and whether young athletes can remain included in the sports system at all. According to information from the Olympic Solidarity report, the Sudanese Olympic system was already among those that needed special international assistance because of extraordinary circumstances. This points to the conclusion that the road to Los Angeles will also depend on the ability to restore basic sports capacities, not only on individual talent. In countries affected by war, athletes often rely on foreign training camps, scholarships, regional centers, and support from international federations. If such mechanisms are secured in time, Sudan could stabilize at least part of the preparations for sports in which it already has Olympic experience.
Los Angeles is preparing the largest sporting framework, while Sudan is only gathering the conditions to participate
The official LA28 website states that Los Angeles will use a number of well-known sports venues and that the organizers present themselves as hosts of an event that connects sport, culture, and togetherness. In such a global framework, strong competition, increasing pressure from early qualifications, and the need for long-term planning are expected. For developed Olympic systems, this means precise budgets, sports-science support, and multi-year programs. For Sudan, it means a struggle for basic prerequisites: athletes’ safety, international contacts, travel funding, and the preservation of national federations. The difference between these two worlds shows how broad the Olympic movement is, but also how unequal the conditions are in which national committees enter the same competitive calendar. Precisely for that reason, Sudan’s beginning of the road toward LA28 has a broader significance than a simple sports announcement.
Realistic expectations and the symbolic weight of participation
At present, there is not enough confirmed information for a precise assessment of how many Sudanese athletes could compete in Los Angeles in 2028 and in which disciplines. According to available information, the national Olympic committee is only assessing the situation and preparation possibilities, while international qualification systems in many sports are still gradually being confirmed and implemented. For that reason, it would be premature to speak about medals or the final composition of the delegation. A more realistic goal at this stage is to preserve the athlete base, open access to international competitions for them, and ensure that Sudanese sport does not disappear from the Olympic calendar because of the consequences of the war. At an exceptionally difficult political and humanitarian moment, the very possibility of an organized appearance in Los Angeles would carry a strong symbolic message. It would show that national sport, despite destruction, displacement, and uncertainty, can still find space for continuity and international visibility.
Sport as a space for recovery, but not a substitute for stability
Sports institutions often emphasize the role of sport in connecting people and preserving hope, but Sudan’s example also shows the limits of such messages. Without security, functional public services, and basic infrastructure, Olympic programs can help individuals, but they cannot rebuild the system on their own. According to OCHA, the war has damaged the future of an entire generation, and humanitarian needs remain enormous despite certain developments on the ground. According to UNHCR, the scale of displacement continues to define everyday life for millions of people in Sudan and neighboring states. In that context, preparations for LA28 should be viewed as one of the few internationally visible attempts to preserve normality, but not as proof that the crisis is nearing its end. Sudan’s Olympic road to Los Angeles therefore begins with a question that is simultaneously sporting and social: can enough stability be created in a country wounded by war for athletes to train again, compete, and represent their country on the world’s biggest stage?
Sources:
- Inside the Games – news about the beginning of Sudan’s preparations for LA28 and the assessment of the situation in the national Olympic committee (link)
- LA28 – official information about the dates of the Games, the program, and the organizational framework of Los Angeles 2028 (link)
- International Olympic Committee – official profile of the Sudanese Olympic Committee and basic institutional information (link)
- Olympic Solidarity and NOC Services Annual Report 2024 – data on support for Sudanese athletes and the national Olympic committee (link)
- OCHA – Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2026 for Sudan and the context of the humanitarian crisis (link)
- UNHCR – Sudan Situation Appeal 2026 and data on the scale of displacement (link)
- International Olympic Committee – information about the Refugee Olympic Team for Paris 2024 (link)