Breakdancing Is Now An Olympic Sport

With confirmation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday, December 7, 2020, breakdancing (a hip pop dance which involves side steps, acrobatics, stunts, and choreography) have been officially added as an Olympic sport. Breakdancing will make its debut at the global event in the 2024 edition  in Paris as the IOC looks forward to attracting a younger audience to the event.

Alongside breakdancing, other newly added sports include skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. However, with the exception of breakdancing, other newly added sports will make their debut in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. After successful trials at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the idea of breakdancing becoming an Olympic sport was proposed.

Reacting to the development, Ronnie Abaldonado, who has been competitive as a breakdancer since 2004, winning the 2007 Red Bull BC One World Final stated:

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

Ronnie Abaldonado

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Linda Ikeji

Featured Image Source: The Independent