Cricket at the Summer Olympics

Cricket has been part of the Summer Olympics program. The only time it has been played was at the 1900 Summer Olympics with only a men's contest and two entrants, won by Great Britain over France. It is scheduled to be included again in Los Angeles 2028 with events for both men and women.

Inclusion


Cricket was originally scheduled to be included in the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, which were held in Athens: cricket would have been the only team sport held at the Games. However, due to insufficient entries the tournament was cancelled.

Cricket was held at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris four years later but only two countries competed, Great Britain and hosts France. The French team was mostly represented by English expatriates, and it is officially considered a mixed team while the English team was represented by Devon and Somerset Wanderers Cricket Club, so it was not nationally selected. The players were also mostly club cricketers — only the British side had any first-class cricket experience, with eight such games through Somerset's Montagu Toller and Alfred Bowerman.

The teams played a two-day match over two innings with 12-a-side, so the match did not attract first-class status. Great Britain won the match by 158 runs to win the gold medal: if the French had held out for five more minutes, the game would have been declared a draw. Knowledge of the game would have been lost but for the forethought of John Symes, a member of the victorious team, who kept a scorecard in his own writing.

A cricket tournament was scheduled for 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, but it was cancelled due to a lack of entries.

Reintroduction in 2028


Many of cricket's governing bodies, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), were long opposed to a return to the Olympics. The ECB withdrew their opposition in 2015, and in March 2017, it was reported that International Cricket Council chief Dave Richardson thought the "time is right" for Olympic cricket. It was also reported that the opposition of the BCCI had softened.

In October 2020, USA Cricket stated that it saw a proposed inclusion of cricket in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as a long-term goal. In 2020, the BCCI in its Annual General Meeting decided to back the ICC's bid for inclusion of T20 cricket in 2028 after getting some clarifications from the International Olympic Committee. In August 2021, the ICC confirmed its plans to bid for the inclusion of cricket at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 and 2032 games.

On 9 October 2023, the 2028 Olympic organising committee announced that cricket was on the list of sports they wished to introduce. On 13 October 2023, the IOC announced that the bid was accepted and placed under voting to finalize its inclusion in 2028 during the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai between 14 and 16 October 2023. It was confirmed on 16 October 2023 that cricket would be featured in the 2028 Olympics as only two IOC members voted against inclusion, featuring both men's and women's T20 tournaments.

National representation
The United Kingdom competes at the Olympics as Great Britain, and includes athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and those British Overseas Territories without their own Olympic team, while athletes from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either Great Britain or Ireland. In cricket, Scotland has its own team although native Scots have played for England in the past, Welsh players may play for the England team, and the Ireland team represents all of Ireland, although again in the past, when Ireland was not a Test-playing team, native Irishmen played for England. Great Britain may, in addition, feature players eligible for ICC 'associate' teams such as the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The West Indies cricket team covers much of the Caribbean, which has twelve Olympic associations: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago and United States Virgin Islands. For example, in the 50-over tournament held at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Curtly Ambrose and Richie Richardson represented Antigua and Barbuda.

West Indies cricketers from Anguila and Montserrat would be eligible for Great Britain at the Olympics, and those from Sint Maarten would be eligible for the Netherlands.

Participating nations
Number refer to the final placing of each team at the respective Games. Host nation is shown in bold.

Participating nations
Number refer to the final placing of each team at the respective Games. Host nation is shown in bold.

Overall medal table

 * Total medals won by any country.