Medicine game heads to 2028 Olympics
Kalle Benallie
ICT
The medicine game has reached the Olympics.
Lacrosse, along with four other sports, has been named an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee in Mumbai, India on Monday. The new additions will debut in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles will be the sixth time lacrosse has been part of the Olympics, but the first time as a medal sport since 1908, according to USA Lacrosse.
The Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse Organization has been working for years to have the sport included in the Olympics. The game of lacrosse originates with the Haudenosaunee people and is the most revered tradition, regarding it a “medicine game” that can heal an individual, family or community.
“First and foremost, it’s our game. We are the originators of the sport,” Rex Lyons, former Nationals player, board member of the Haudenosaunee Nationals and president of the Haudenosaunee Nationals Development Group said. “We have an opportunity here to make positive progress.”
If the new Olympic sport is like current sports, a team would have to qualify to compete. The Nationals, both the men’s and women’s teams, are often ranked among the top lacrosse teams in the world and frequently compete in world tournaments, including the World Games.
Lyons said his father and lacrosse legend Oren Lyons is positive that the Haudenosaunee Nationals will be at the Olympics despite any difficulties that may lie ahead.
Oren was a former lacrosse goalie and All-American player at Syracuse University. He was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Native American Hall of Fame in 2008. He co-founded the Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse program in 1983 and is an honorary chairman.
“In a time where our world is really in, kind of in such uncertainty and so decisive, I think this is an opportunity for some positivity to take the world stage, and where I think it’s going to be a story that people are going to feel good about around the world, especially Indigenous people. Indigenous nations around the world have always rallied behind us,” Rex said.
Casey Wasserman, the chairperson of LA28, the host city’s organizing committee, told USA Today that the new sports "ignite the imagination on the field of play and drive culture off it."
Baseball/softball, cricket, flag football and squash are the other sports that were approved.
"They’re relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centers, stadiums and parks across the U.S. and the globe," Wasserman said.
Rex Lyons said World Lacrosse has reached out to the National Olympic Committees for the United States and Canada and the International Paralympic Committee about the importance of having the Haudenosaunee Nationals participate in the Olympics.
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Wesserman has additionally stated LA28 would like to see the Haudenosaunee Nationals in the Olympics.
“The Indigenous people of North America created lacrosse,” he said to Sportico. “If we could find a solution to allow them to compete, that would be incredible. We don’t have that solution today because it requires the IOC to create a competition structure other than the norm… I understand this is not a simple decision, but we would love to see it, it think it would be a really powerful moment for our country and for the sport.”
The next steps to look at will be what the inclusion and format look like for the Haudenosaunee Nationals to compete. Such as working with the International Olympic Committee and if they will have to be a National Olympic Committee. A spokesperson for the IOC told The Associated Press it’s up to Olympic committees in the U.S. and Canada, in coordination with World Lacrosse, “to decide if they include athletes from Haudenosaunee in their respective teams depending on the passport they hold.”
The team has had difficulty gaining entry into some international events. They were prevented from competing in the world championships in England in 2010 due to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy having their own passports. British officials said that the passports did not meet security requirements and asked for the Haudenosaunee to claim Canadian or U.S. passports to compete, but they refused.
Most recently they were deemed ineligible for the 2022 World Games because they were not recognized as a sovereign nation. After 50,000 people signed a petition to let them play, they reversed their decision.
“Personally, I can’t even begin to express how much this means to me, thinking that we would be represented, carrying our flag alongside other nations in the world and potentially be medal winners, it would be beyond belief,” Lyons said. “In order for them to have the best experience for lacrosse and the Olympics, and the world audience, the Haudenosaunee has to be there.”
Lyons added that there has been real inclusion and growth for the Haudenosaunee to be at the head of the table.
“I really want to commend the powers that be that have already stepped out in front of this conversation. They’re not waiting for us to knock on the door. I think that’s an extraordinary change of status quo,” Lyons said.
He also said he can really see the Haudenosaunee helping light the torch in Los Angeles.
“I feel like that would be a very monumental and extraordinary symbolism of how far we come and how far we have to go,” Lyons said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
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