| Flag football at the Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Governing body | IFAF |
| Events | 2 (men: 1; women: 1) |
| Summer Olympics | |
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The 2028 Summer Olympics will introduce the sport of flag football for the first time. Two events, one for men and one for women, will be held. Flag football, a non-contact variant of American football in which players remove flags attached to the ball carrier instead of tackling them, was previously contested at the 2022 World Games and will be featured at the 2025 World Games.
Out of the major professional sports in the United States, only American football has never been an official sport at the Olympic Games. [1] It has been a demonstration sport at the Summer Olympic Games twice: at the 1904 Summer Olympics, several games were played at Francis Olympic Field between college football teams, and the status of these matches as Olympic is dubious; and in 1932 Summer Olympics, one game was played between East and West All-Stars. [2] [3] Although several American football players have been Olympians, American football itself has never been an official Olympic sport. [4] [5] The sport has been considered by some as incompatible with the Olympics for several reasons, among them the high-risk of injury, inconvenience in the time period the games are held and its lack of global popularity. [6] American football was also an invitational/demonstration sport at the 2005 World Games and 2017 World Games.
In 2013, the Olympics gave provisional recognition to the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), setting up a possible future vote for the sport to be at the games. [7] The IFAF applied to the Olympics for 2020, but was denied, with controversy in the 2015 IFAF World Championship contributing to the decision. [4] [8]
After American football was declined as an Olympic sport, the IFAF launched efforts to include at the games flag football, a non-contact variant of the sport where players pull off flags from the ball carrier instead of tackling them. [9] [10] The National Football League (NFL) began to push for the sport to be held at the 2028 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, California, as way to improve its global popularity. [11] [12] In 2022, they jointly launched the group "Vision28" to lobby for it to be included at the games. [13] The NFL and IFAF considered flag football a viable alternative to American football for its limited contact, low costs, and due to it being playable by both men and women. [14] [15]
At Super Bowl LVII, the NFL held a five-on-five flag football event between players from the Mexican and American national teams in front of Olympic officials, and they also were able to have flag football featured at the 2022 World Games. [12] [16] It moved closer to being at the Olympics when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board gave the IFAF approval to be considered by the full IOC in March 2023. [17] By August 2023, it was announced as one of nine sports in consideration for the 2028 games, along with cricket, motorsport, baseball / softball, karate, breakdancing, kickboxing, lacrosse and squash. [18] In early September, the sports making it were to be finalized by the IOC, but it was postponed as negotiations between organizers of the 2028 games and the IOC continued. [19] In mid-October, flag football was approved by the IOC at their meeting in Mumbai, India, as one of five additions for 2028, along with cricket, squash, baseball / softball and lacrosse, with only two out of 90 members voting "no". [20] The approved version will feature two events, one for men and one for women, with the games being played five-on-five on a 50-yard field with no linemen. [21] [22] [23]
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was named the sport's ambassador for the 2028 Summer Olympics and featured in an NFL teaser where he lit the torch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum by throwing a flaming football. [24]
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form.
This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad.
Flag football is a variant of gridiron football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. In flag football, contact is limited between players. The sport has a strong amateur following with several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations but is most popularly played in America where it was invented. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) with the International Woman's Flag Football Association (IWFFA) governing the women's game.
Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by an international governing body called an International Federation (IF).
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Softball was on the Olympic program from 1996 to 2008. It was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016, but was added for a one-off appearance, along with baseball, for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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The World Games sports comprise all the sports contested in The World Games. Starting in Birmingham 2022, there was no distinction between official and invitational sports. José Perurena, IWGA President, stated, "In Birmingham, for the first time, invitational sports were no longer presented separately but were also part of the official programme." This is now The World Games policy.
The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August 2032, with Brisbane, Queensland, Australia as the main host city. They will be the third Olympic Games held in Australia, after the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Victoria and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales. It will be the first Summer Olympics to be hosted in more than one city, with multiple cities/regions hosting it.
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Darrell "Housh" Doucette is an American flag football player who is a quarterback for the United States national team.
The United States men's national flag football team often referred to as Team USA represents the United States in men's international flag football competitions. The team is governed by USA Football. As of 2023, the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) ranks the United States men's team 1st worldwide.
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| 2026 addition | |
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