Five years down the line we will finally get to see some new sports heading to the Olympics. Baseball, softball, flag football, cricket, lacrosse, and squash will all be making their way to LA to be played on the international stage.
Not all of these sports are brand new to the Olympics, however. Following South Korea’s gold medal victory in 2008, baseball was removed for the following 2012 summer Olympics. Softball, which was also previously involved, was removed as well. At the time, the reasons included a lack of interest outside of North America. These sports making it back to the Olympics will be huge for their international growth.
“I believe that reintroducing baseball and softball to the Olympics will help instill a desire for countries outside of the United States to take part in these sports,” said Marist baseball player Jax Valenti.
Another event will be making its way to the international stage for likely the first notable time in its history. Flag football is by far the strangest sport to be given the spotlight in the upcoming games.
According to the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), the top flag football countries in the world outside of America include Mexico, Panama, Italy, and France. It will be interesting to see how they fare against America’s best as multiple NFL players have already declared their interest in participating.
“Calling all NFL guys let’s bring one [a gold medal] home,” tweeted NFL all-pro receiver Tyreek Hill. He later continued, “You know how amazing it would be to assemble a super team to play in the Olympics.”
While it appears that America may dominate the world in football, the remaining sports not so much. While the American east coast loves lacrosse, Canada still might have the edge. Also, cricket and squash are worldwide sports that haven’t quite made their way to the states yet.
While five years is still a long while to wait to see these games in action, this is still an exciting moment leading towards the international growth of all sports involved. We may get to see our favorite pros involved in taking home more gold for America.
