Rob Gronkowski has announced that he would be open to unretiring from football if it meant playing at the 2028 Olympics. “Hopefully there’s no tryouts and they just accept me. But I’m in. I’m going for that if there is flag football in the Olympics in 2028. USA going all the way!” Gronk told TMZ. The tight end retired in 2022. Furthermore, he has said on multiple occasions that he’s done for good. This is despite unretiring once before.
Flag football was one of five sports approved by the IOC executive board this week. It will debut at the 2028 Olympics in LA. The other sports approved were cricket, lacrosse, squash, and baseball/softball. Despite the perception of American Football being, well, an American sport, it actually enjoys immensely popularity around the world. Furthermore, the inclusion of flag football, as opposed to full contact football, mitigates many of the safety concerns involved with the inclusion.
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DanceSport Federation Laments Exclusion Of Breaking From LA 2028
While Gronk may be excited for flag football, one governing body isn’t happy with the announcement. The World DanceSport Federation said it was “profoundly disappointed” that breaking had not been selected for the 2028 Olympics. Breaking, the competitive sport form of breakdancing, will make its Olympic debut in 2024. However, it will have to wait until Brisbane 2032 for another shot at inclusion. Karate, motorsport, and kickboxing were also considered but ultimately not approved for LA 2028.
Paris 2024 will feature the first Olympic breaking tournament, which has been slowly filling out its qualifiers over the last few months. At the World Championships last month, both Olympic spots were earned by challengers to the sport’s status quo. In the b-boys event, Victor “Victor” Montalvo, the 2021 champion, took down reigning champion Philip “Phil Wizard” Kim to regain his title. That earned the US a spot in next year’s Olympic field. Meanwhile, the b-girls final saw 16-year-old Dominika “Nika” Banevič of Lithuania take down breaking legend and 2021 champion Ayumi “Ayumi” Fukushima. Nika continues a stellar 2023 that saw her win the 2023 European Games. Furthermore, her win at the World Championships means that India “India” Sardjoe of the Netherlands receives the berth from the European Games.
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