Joe Biden and White House support Indigenous lacrosse team for 2028 Olympics

U.S. President Joe Biden is pushing to allow the Indigenous nation that invented lacrosse to play under its own flag when the sport returns to the Olympics in 2028.

Biden's position, being announced Wednesday at the White House Tribal Nations Summit, is a request for the International Olympic Committee to allow the Haudenosaunee Nationals to compete as its own team at the Los Angeles Games.

That would require the IOC to make an exception to a rule that permits teams playing only as part of an official national Olympic committee to compete in the Olympics. The Haudenosaunee, formerly known as the Iroquois, is a collection of six Indigenous nations whose territory covers upstate New York and adjacent sections of Canada. They have competed as their own team at several international events since 1990.

"We're hopeful the IOC will see it our way, as well," Tom Perez, the White House senior adviser and director of intergovernmental affairs, told The Associated Press. "If we're successful, it won't simply be the flag of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy that marches in the Olympics, it will be the flag of Indigenous people across the world."

Perez added the U.S. is working with Canada to support inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.

"I can't think of a more worthy candidate for inclusion than a confederation that literally invented the sport and has some of the most elite men and women in the sport in their nation," Perez said.

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Fawn Porter, who is Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, plays for the Haudenosaunee Nationals women's team in both box and field lacrosse. She said the government's support "will help build additional momentum as we continue