Breakdancing, an athletic style of street/hip hop dance that involves side steps, stunts, acrobatics and choreography to music, has been added as a sport for 2024 Olympic games to be held in Paris.
The decision was confirmed and announced on Monday, December 7 by organizers of the event, International Olympic Committee, as it seeks to attract a younger audience to the competition.
The competition — which will be officially called “breaking” — will debut with 16 athletes in each of the men’s and women’s medal events.
The sport was first proposed two years ago, after successful trials at 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Other new sports confirmed for the 2024 Paris lineup include skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing.
Unlike breakdancing, the above three Sports will debut at the coronavirus delayed Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.
According to Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, all four new additions aim to make the Summer Olympics “more gender balanced, more youthful and more urban”, Guardian reports.
However, the committee on Monday rejected a number proposed events — including costal rowing and parkour.
In 2024, the dance-offs will take place at Place de la Concords in downtown Paris — the same arena as sport climbing and 3-on-3 basketball.
According to a 2019 Olympic programme commission report, an estimated one million people take part in breakdancing.
Considering that the 2019 Red Bull BC One World Final had more that 50 million views across a number of online platforms, the Olympics committee see the addition of breakdancing as a positive one for the games
After the IOC announcement, Ronnie Abaldonado, a competitive breakdancer since 2004 who won the 2007 Red Bull BC One World Final said;
The biggest part is your stage presence and character and your rhythm, whether or not you’re really feeling it.
People can hit the moves but if you’re not feeling what they’re doing then you just kind of look robotic and that’s what kind of separates it being a sport to it being an art form.
Breaking pioneer Richard “Crazy Legs” Colon also said;
This is true folk art from the music to the dance, to the DJ to the rapper. We’ve already legitimised ourselves so we’re not looking to the Olympics for legitimacy.
