The Olympic games may have been postponed all the way to 2021, but they’ll be back in 2024 — with a few all-new events, including breakdancing. Hip-hop has already been global, but it’s been further legitimized by the International Olympic Committee’s announcement today, per ESPN, that the most physical element of the culture has officially been added to the list of events coming to Paris in 2024. The IOC has also added skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing, although they’ll debut at 2021’s postponed Tokyo games instead.
Breaking was proposed by Paris organizers in 2018 after the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires had a successful trial run of the new event. It still required more approval stages from the IOC board and a membership vote. The inaugural event will take place at Place de la Concorde in downtown Paris alongside 3-on-3 basketball. In receiving approval, breaking bypassed the fates of sports like ocean rowing and parkour.
Up until this announcement, the biggest stage for hip-hop dance was the annual Red Bull BC One, which features a one-on-one battle format decided by a panel of five judges. The youth games used a similar format; while details on the upcoming games are vague, it stands to reason they’ll use the same format, foregoing crew-based competitions.
