| Flag football at the Summer Olympics | |
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| Events | 2 (men: 1; women: 1) |
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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 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.
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 non-global popularity. [6]
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 Committe (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, motosport, 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]
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.
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). In 2022, flag football was shortlisted as a proposed discretionary event for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with inclusion being accepted on October 16, 2023.
Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 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).
A team sport is a type of sport where the fundamental nature of the game or sport necessitates the participation of multiple individuals working together as a team, and it is inherently impossible or highly impractical to execute the sport as a single-player endeavour. In team sports, the cooperative effort of team members is essential for the sport to function and achieve its objectives. The objective often involves teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar object in accordance with a set of rules, in order to score points. Examples are basketball, volleyball, rugby, water polo, handball, lacrosse, cricket, baseball, and the various forms of football, and hockey. These sports emphasize teamwork, strategy, and coordination among team members, while competing against opposing teams, to achieve a common goal. Team sports do not include individual or individual-to-team events within a sport.
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, won by Great Britain. It is scheduled to be included again in 2028.
Baseball at the Summer Olympics unofficially debuted at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and was first contested as a demonstration sport at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. It became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, then was played at each Olympiad through the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The sport was then dropped from the Summer Olympic program, until being revived for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for a single appearance. It is next expected to be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Sports in the United States are an important part of the nation's culture. Historically, the national sport has been baseball. However, in more recent decades, American football has been the most popular sport in terms of broadcast viewership audience. Basketball has grown into the mainstream American sports scene since the 1980s, with ice hockey and soccer doing the same around the turn of the 21st century.
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.
Lacrosse has been contested at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games, 1904 and 1908. Both times a Canadian team won the competition. In its first year, two teams from Canada and one team from the United States competed at the games in St. Louis, Missouri. Only two teams, one from Canada and one from Great Britain competed in 1908 in London.
The United States national American football team often referred to as Team USA represents the United States in international men's Flag football and American football competitions. It is currently controlled by USA Football and is recognized by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). The team is currently ranked no.1 in the world in both flag and tackle Football by the IFAF.
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with Paris as the main host city and 16 other cities spread across metropolitan France, plus one subsite in Tahiti—an island within the French overseas country and overseas collectivity of French Polynesia.
The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to 30, 2028, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
The Greater Los Angeles area is home to many professional and collegiate sports teams and has hosted many national and international sporting events. The metropolitan area has twelve major league professional teams: the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Rams, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Angels, LA Galaxy, Los Angeles FC, the Los Angeles Kings, the Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Sparks, the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Knight Riders of the MLC Major League Cricket, their Minor League Cricket affiliate SoCal Lashings, and Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nine universities whose teams compete in various NCAA Division I level sports, most notably the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans. Between them, these Los Angeles area sports teams have won a combined 105 championship titles. Los Angeles area colleges have produced upwards of 200 national championship teams.
American football was featured in the Summer Olympic Games demonstration programme in 1904 and 1932. College football was played at the 1904 Olympics, which was played at Francis Field, but was, in reality, college teams playing each other as part of their regular seasons. The sport was eventually played officially as a demonstration sport only once, in 1932. Though American football has not been played in the Olympics since then, various American football players have participated in the Olympics. The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) oversees the IFAF World Championship, which is an international tournament, which itself is held every four years.
Rugby sevens was played at the Olympics for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics, with both men's and women's contests. It was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The champions for the inaugural rugby sevens tournament in 2016 were Fiji for the men and Australia for the women. Prior to 2016, 15-a-side matches were played in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924.
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 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions that are not currently contested at the Olympic Games; the Games featured 3,600 athletes competing in 206 medal events over 30 sports.
Karate was first included in the Summer Olympic Games at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Japan. After it was announced to not be included in 2024, in August 2022 it was announced that karate had made the shortlist for inclusion in the 2028 Games, although it was ultimately not selected.
The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032 is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place between 23 July to 8 August 2032, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
The 141st IOC Session was an IOC Session that was held in Mumbai, India from 15 to 17 October 2023.
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