Breaking — or breakdancing — has gone from block parties in the Bronx in the ’70s to an official Olympic sport in Paris. It’s the only new sport making its debut at the Paris Games, but a few sports have added or tweaked some events, and a quartet of other nontraditional sports return for their second Olympics. Here’s what you need to know about the new sports and events for the 2024 Games that get underway on Friday in Paris.
Over the decades, breaking has evolved from a dance party to a competitive sport that’s contested around the world, but the 2024 Paris Games will be the first time breakdancers will compete for Olympic gold. And it might be awhile until we see it again at the Olympics. Breaking was voted into the 2024 Games but didn’t make the cut for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, so the earliest it could return to the Olympic stage is 2032 in Brisbane, Australia. US breaker Victor Montalvo is a gold-medal favorite at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Sixteen men and 16 women — known as B-Boys and B-Girls — will compete in breaking, with separate one-day competitions for each. The women will compete on Aug. 9 and the men on Aug. 10. The competition consists of one-on-one battles. Each battle is a best-of-three contest starting with a round robin before moving to the knockout rounds for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal battles. The women’s qualifying round begins 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT) on Friday, Aug. 9. The medal round will take place later that day starting at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT). The men’s qualifying and medal rounds are scheduled for the same times on Saturday, Aug. 10.
Similar to gymnastics or ice skating, contestants will be judged by varied criteria that’s a mix of artistic expression and athletic power and grace. A breaker’s dance moves will be judged for creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity, and musicality. But unlike gymnasts and ice skaters, who follow a carefully planned routine to music of their own choosing, breakers will not know the music for their routine ahead of time, which places an emphasis on improvisation based on the DJ’s tracks.
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