With the slogan of "seeking common ground while reserving differences, chatting about sports hot topics of common concern", the Community is broadcast once a week at 10:00 p.m. on Friday during the Voice of China's "Decisive Moment" column.
Los Angeles 2028 introduces flag football as a new sport. Flag football is regarded as a "lightweight" version of American football, and together with 3x3 basketball and rugby sevens, it has become a representative of "lightweight sports" in the Olympics. On November 24, the 140th program presented a new trend of sports consumption at the Expo. The three "gossips" involved were Zhang Wen, a reporter from the Voice of China, Li Deming, executive director of the Guangdong Rugby Association and founder of Guangzhou Maiyue Sports, and Luo Ranfeng, vice president of sports business marketing and general manager of Shengyi Sports.
This article is a summary of the highlights of this episode.
Which is the earliest lightweight project to enter the Olympics?
Zhang Wen: Through today's guest introductions, you will guess that we are going to talk about rugby, but we are not just talking about rugby. Los Angeles 2028 will feature five new sports, including baseball and softball, cricket, lacrosse, squash and flag football. Flag football is a "lightweight version" of American football, that is, a simplified form. Previously, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics introduced 3x3 basketball as a lightweight basketball, and rugby sevens as a lightweight rugby. What opportunities will these lightweight projects bring to the spread of the Olympic spirit and the development of related projects?That's our topic today.
First of all, is 3x3 basketball and rugby sevens the first lightweight events to enter the Olympics?
Luo Ranfeng: I'm afraid not. Some of the combat events in the Olympics were also simplified before they entered the Olympic system. For example, judo, as an Olympic sport, has reduced some lethal techniques compared to the original judo fighting. If you are practicing judo from the direction of sports competition, you will generally not learn this type of killing technique Xi. In addition, Olympic boxing is also significantly reduced compared to professional boxing. Professional boxing has a relatively high number of rounds, with 12 rounds of gold medal fights, while in recent Olympics boxing has only been fought in three rounds, and the number of rounds has decreased significantly.
Professional boxers only fight two or three times a year, and with only two weeks of Olympic competition, Olympic boxing is bound to compress intensity.
Another interesting detail: in the history of martial arts, boxing itself is the result of "subtraction". The most basic fighting is irregular fighting, which can be fought with weapons, with bare hands, with hands or feet, standing or lying down. But boxing limited the rules to the use of fists as a means of attack, and combat sports became so-called "civilized". After the completion of the lightweight transformation, boxing gradually developed into the most commercially valuable combat sport. However, boxing has been further lightened and developed into a sport that is not embarrassing, including the fact that there is now a debate over which organization the IOC should recognize as the official governing body of Olympic boxing, which is quite interesting.
Going back to the host's question at the beginning, there are examples of boxing, judo and other sports placed here, and 3x3 basketball and rugby sevens should not be considered the first lightweight sports to enter the Olympics.
Why is flag football in the Olympics and not American football?
Zhang Wen: Your answer also makes us realize that one of the original intentions of simplifying the rules for the inclusion of various sports in the Olympic Games is to make the nature of sports more in line with the Olympic values. So now that flag football is ahead of American football, is there a similar consideration?
Lai: Let's start by distinguishing between the different concepts of rugby. One is rugby, and American football. Although it is called "rugby" in the Chinese context, it can basically be understood as two different sports. In practice, the two sports also have corresponding management organizations. The Olympic Charter stipulates that the men's event must be held in at least 75 countries and regions on four continents, and the women's event must be held in 40 countries and regions on three continents, and that the event must be recognized by the International Olympic Committee in order for the event to become an official Olympic sport. By the time of the 1900 Paris Olympics, the famous Monsieur de Coubertin had already introduced rugby to the Olympic Games. The international governing body for American football is the International American Football Federation, which was only established in 1998 and was provisionally recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 2013. On the whole, the global promotion effect of American football is slightly inferior to that of English football, so it cannot be achieved too early to enter the Olympics.
Then let's make a distinction between American football and flag football. Generally, we will refer to the former as "equipment football", which more intuitively reflects the difference with flag football. As we all know, equipment football is highly developed in North America and is the number one sport in North America, but its commercial value is directly digested in North America. The NFL league has also been committed to promoting equipment football globally for many years, including holding games in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany and other places, but it has never changed the development situation of North America being the dominant and other regions being relatively weak, and it is difficult to directly promote equipment football to the Olympic Games.
Flag football has spread to a certain extent in China.
Of course, every time a new sport is declared for the Olympics, the host country will have some opportunities to introduce popular local sports. Previously, flag football has entered the Universiade and the World Games, and it has achieved certain promotion results. Now that the Olympics are being hosted by American cities, there is an opportunity to bring American football to the Olympics in the form of flag football. Flag football is much simpler than equipping rugby, no helmets, shoulder armor and other equipment, and there is no overly fierce heavy confrontation, only two flags need to be planted around the waist to be carried out. With the difficulty of participating, promotion is also easier. For example, in recent years, China has experienced the process of flag football becoming popular through social networking, and there are many young people who come to experience it.
Luo Ranfeng: Jokingly, Americans call American football football, which is directly confused with the current English football football of the International Olympic Committee. Adding the prefix "american" in front of it would emphasize the sport's local origins, and it doesn't seem appropriate. So maybe there is a certain consideration from the beginning of the project name. As Mr. Li said, it is easy to promote equipment football as the name of the project. In addition, the Olympic Charter mentioned by President Li also has some requirements for equality between men and women. Now that the International Olympic Committee advocates that both men and women should be included in Olympic sports, and even encourage mixed teams of men and women, American football does not seem to be doing too well in this regard. Including on a professional level, discussions about women's American football are very scarce. In contrast, female participation in flag football is much greater.
Lightweight" creates opportunities for wider dissemination.
Zhang Wen: The IOC is indeed working hard to promote equality between men and women, and even pursue absolute equality in terms of the number of events and participants in the Olympic Games. Flag football seems to be more in line with the IOC's values. In addition, when it comes to the promotion effect of flag football after reducing the confrontation, can Mr. Li further interpret it?
Lai Tak Minh: Flag football is non-collisional, and it does not actively pursue physical contact and confrontation during the game. This makes the sport both movable and does not bring a lot of physical stress, and it is easier to attract office workers and young people to participate than to equip rugby. In addition, although there are helmets, shoulder armor and other protective equipment equipped with rugby, if the athlete does not exert the right force, it will still form a contusion during the body collision, and if you fall to the ground, you will have abrasions. Therefore, the probability of injury in flag football is also lower than that of equipment football, and it is more popular with urban white-collar workers.
Zhang Wen: Flag football is a veritable "lightweight", making American football less "heavy". After it enters the Olympic Games, will it bring major new opportunities to the development of China's related industries?
Entering the Olympics is expected to further activate the domestic flag football youth training.
Lai Deming: There is no doubt that it will be. When Chengdu hosts the World Games in 2025, Chinese will see a large-scale international flag football event at their doorstep for the first time. In addition, I have also heard some industry news that the 2025 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao National Games will also have the opportunity to add flag football. Flag rugby into the National Games, which means that all provinces should build provincial teams, and then promote the establishment of reserve talent echelons in various cities and cities, which will be a spring for the development of flag football.
When we first introduced flag football, we mainly told the participants that it was a sport with no direct physical confrontation and no collision, and that there was no need to worry about physical safety. Now that this project has entered the entire sports system of the country, it is even more of a milestone development opportunity. For example, Guangdong is now a relatively good province for the development of flag rugby in China, and the news of the Olympic Games in the first half of the year has not yet come out, and the first Guangdong Youth Rugby Championship held at that time has realized the age group setting from U8 to university group, with more than 50 teams and nearly 600 athletes participating. The adult amateur competition in the province is a weekly appointment tournament and a monthly cup competition. Now what the industry sees is that after the project enters the Olympic Games, there will be a wave of opportunities in China in the future in youth training, equipment peripheral sales, adult club formation training, event organization and even sports tourism. This wave of opportunities is expected to continue until at least the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Lightweight has become a branch line of the Olympic rejuvenation strategy.
Zhang Wen: The entry of flag football into the Olympics has made relevant practitioners look forward to the new development of the project. Ran Feng, is 3x3 basketball an example of driving the development of the project with a lightweight version?Because basketball has been around for a long time in the Olympics, and later 3x3 basketball was added.
Luo Ranfeng: 3x3 basketball is indeed an example, which has strengthened the spread of basketball by entering the Olympics in a lightweight form. FIBA itself is very active in promoting 3x3 basketball, setting up an international competition system, a ranking system and a professional system. Including in China, FIBA has cooperated with some local events through a series of event authorizations, which has led to the participation of 3x3 basketball.
The lightweight 3x3 basketball has obvious communication convenience. On the one hand, the appreciability of the game, the duration setting and offensive rhythm guidance of 3x3 basketball make its offensive rounds exchange more than that of five-a-side basketball, which can convey the attractive aspects of basketball more efficiently and quickly. On the one hand, the event is easy to organize, and 3x3 basketball can be implemented in a variety of scenarios. For example, find an atrium or peripheral area in the commercial body, and build some plastic flooring to form a temporary playing field. People passing by the mall will stop by and gather the popularity of the event. The event itself will attract basketball fans** and guide traffic for commercial sports. It can be seen that 3x3 basketball can attract relevant organizations or groups at the same time on the consumer side and the first end, and has received greater attention in recent years.
3x3 basketball can be played in the downtown area and has a certain "landscape sports" attribute.
Zhang Wen: As far as the IOC's position is concerned, why does it want to specifically promote lightweight sports?Especially basketball, futsal and 3x3 basketball are similar categories, what is the significance of introducing 3x3 basketball?
Luo Ranfeng: In the past, like boxing and judo, the main reason for entering the Olympics was that the influence of the project and the mass foundation were relatively solid. The introduction of these events by the IOC has helped to flesh out the integrity of the Olympic Games as a multi-sport event. But the situation in recent years may have been more due to the IOC's rejuvenation strategy. In recent years, people have mentioned the Olympic Games to open up the youth market, mainly mentioning new sports such as skateboarding, surfing, and breakdancing. Lightweight projects may also be an important starting point. Mr. Li has just mentioned the rapid promotion of flag football among young people. Overall, lightweight sports may increase their appeal to more regions and more diverse groups – e.g., youth and women – by weakening physical confrontation. Therefore, rather than the IOC trying to promote lightweighting, it is better to say that the IOC has found some lightweight projects as support in the process of promoting rejuvenation.
Zhang Wen: Most people's perception of the Olympics may only be the situation of the 10th and 8th Olympic Games in the past 30 or 40 years. On this time scale, the Olympic program as a whole has not changed. However, looking at the history of the Olympic Games for more than 100 years, there will be an obvious trend of change in the Olympic program and even the projects of the entire sports family. The rules of each sport will likewise evolve to make them more in line with the needs of the present generation.
Nowadays, we may be in an era where lightweight sports are needed, and convenience is pursued and injuries are not easily expected. As a result, we were introduced to a range of sports that had a low barrier to entry but were able to demonstrate the ultimate level of skill through the performance of professional athletes. It can be moved high or low, and it is possible to participate in it and enjoy it, which may be the common feature of popular sports in the world at present. Therefore, the lightweight versions of basketball and rugby were gradually absorbed into the Olympic Games. I believe that in this process, the IOC has been thinking about how to balance the participation and excitement of the event, and better integrate the two goals of "watching together" and "playing together". Thank you two guests for participating in this episode, and we'll see you next time.
Note: Courtesy of osports and Li Deming.