Olympic Games features a new sport – breaking

Can’t wait to witness the newest Summer Olympics sport that debuts in Paris – breaking. (It was first known as breakdancing, which originated in 1973 in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City.)

Writing for the Condé Nast Traveler website, Jennifer Padjemi said Paris is the perfect urban venue to introduce the world to breaking. This is good and bad…as judges will “apply an ostensibly objective scoring system to a subjective art form.”

Breakers are known to be non-conformists, performing outside the box of rules that define most other sports, Padjemi said.

The competition should be “way cool,” with gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to the top overall men’s and women’s performers.

Padjemi interviewed Anne Nguyen, a dancer, choreographer and founder of a Paris-based dance company who argues that the “sportification” of breaking will push dancers to forego the improvisation and individual spirit intrinsic to the practice.

“Instead, they will be strategic, planning everything from A to Z, to get the high scores,” Nguyen says. “Less improvisation, fewer complex figures, a lot less risk-taking. It means less freedom.”

Pshaw. We shall see.

Team USA stars are: Sunny Choi, 35, of Queens, New York City; Logan Edra, 21, of San Diego; Victor Montalvo, 30, of Kissimmee, Fla.; and Jeffrey Lewis, 29, of Houston.

 

Typically, breakers have nicknames. On the streets, Logan is “Logistx.”

This may be their only day in the sun, so to speak, for the sport of breaking may be “one and done.” It is not included in the slate of sports that will be offered at the 2028 Olympics. That’s a quirky thing about the way the Games are organized.

Karate, baseball and softball, which were included in the 2020 Olympics’ lineup in Tokyo, were axed from the Paris games. The Times of India, published in New Delhi, offers an unbiased view of what happened.

“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) regularly reviews and adjusts the sports roster for each Olympic cycle, considering factors such as global popularity, athlete participation and the host city’s preferences,” The Times reported.

“The decision to exclude karate was made by the organizers due to its perceived lack of entertainment value and its inability to attract a significant following among younger audiences, as reported by Reuters.”

“Fans will have to wait until (decisions are made for) the 2032 Brisbane (Australia) Olympics to find out if karate will be included once again.”

“Baseball made its Olympics’ debut at the 1992 Barcelona (Spain) Games, followed by softball at the 1996 Atlanta Games. However, both sports were eventually removed from the 2012 and 2016 Olympics due to various factors, including the inability of Major League Baseball players to participate because of scheduling conflicts with their regular season,” The Times said.

 

“Additionally, softball’s global popularity was not strong enough to justify its continued presence in the Games.”

 

“For the Tokyo Olympics, Japan was permitted to propose five additional sports, including baseball and softball, which have a strong following in the country. However, these sports are less popular in France, leading to their exclusion from the Paris 2024 Games.” 

“Fans can take solace in the fact that both baseball and softball will return for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”