Breakdancing, a street dance style rooted within the Black community, has been added to the 2024 Olympic games,
The athletic style of urban dance was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on Monday, and will be featured at the 2024 Paris Games in an effot to attract younger vewers. The competing teams could win a medal, The Chicago Tribune reports.
Breakdancing was pioneered by hip-hop artists in the 70’s and 80’s, many of whom were Black and Latino from the South Bronx.
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The competitors, also known as b-boys and b-girls , will be judged on their technical skills, creativity and style, strength, speed, rhythm and agility, the BBC reports.
The president of the Olympics committee, Thomas Bach, said breakdancing at the Paris Games will “focus on gender equality and youth” and to deliver a Games “fit for a post-corona world,” Entertainment Weekly reports.
The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, also called the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018, which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had breaking as a competitive sport.
Originally, there were suppose to be three sports set to debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, which got postponed to July 23, 2021 due to the pandemic: skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing. The International Olympic Committee also announced the Paris Games will have fewer sporting events and attending athletes than Tokyo, specifically weightlifting and boxing.
Weightlifting in Paris will have about 120 athletes, which is less than half of the competitors who attended the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the Tribune reports.
The sport could be dropped entirely due to its doping controversy, in addition to the committee’s concerns for the pacing and desire to reform the International Weightlifting Federation.
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