Breaking at the 2024 Summer Olympics

Breaking at the 2024 Summer Olympics was an exciting new event that took place from August 9 to 10 at Place de la Concorde. This marked the very first time breakdancing appeared in the Olympic Games, making it a special moment for dancers everywhere. Breakdancing joined other new sports like sport climbing and surfing that were added to make the Olympics more interesting for younger fans.

The competition featured thirty-three amazing dancers, called breakers, who battled face-to-face in exciting matches. There were sixteen b-boys and seventeen b-girls showing off their skills. This event followed breakdancing's successful debut at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Adding breaking to the Olympics was part of an effort led by IOC president Thomas Bach to attract more young people to watch and enjoy the Olympic Games.

Inclusion

Breaking became an official sport at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Even though breakdancing started in the United States, it will not be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The leader of sports for the Olympics said each city chooses which new sports to include. For Paris, breaking fit well because it appeals to young people. For Los Angeles in 2028, sports like baseball, softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash were chosen instead. The group that oversees breaking is trying to make sure the sport is included in the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.

Competition format

The breaking competition had two events, one for men and one for women, with sixteen B-Boys and sixteen B-Girls competing.

It started with a round robin stage where the 16 breakers were split into four groups. They danced against each other in their groups for one minute each. The top two from each group moved on to the knockout stage, where they faced off in one-on-one matches and the loser was out of the competition.

Judges scored each battle using five important ideas: how well they did the moves, how many different moves they used, how cleanly they performed, how well they matched the music, and how creative they were. Each judge picked a winner for each round, and the person with the most votes won that round. Scores from all rounds decided who moved on and who won medals.

Qualification

A total of 32 spots were available for dancers to compete in the first-ever breaking competition at the Olympics. Countries could enter up to four dancers, with two boys and two girls.

Most of these spots were decided through three different ways. First, the winner of the 2023 WDSF World Championships in Leuven, Belgium, got to compete in Paris. Second, the top-ranked dancers from five areas (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) also earned spots. Finally, dancers had a chance to qualify during a series of events held around the world from March to June 2024.

The host country, France, got to enter one boy and one girl. Extra spots were also available for countries that wanted to join but had not qualified through the other ways.

Officials

The judges for the breaking competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics were listed, along with the hosts and DJs who helped create the atmosphere for the event.

390 songs were approved for use in the competition. These songs came from many genres like hip hop, soul, funk, jazz, latin, and rock. Some popular tracks included A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario", The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache", and James Brown's "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved".

Name	Nickname	NOC	Role
Po-Chun Chen	Bojin	Chinese Taipei	Chair
Martin Gilian	MGbility	Slovakia	Head Judge
Judes Ferdinand Abdoul	Dom:k	France	Judge
Dae Kyun Hwang	Virus	South Korea	Judge
Moises Rivas	Moy	United States	Judge
Messias Chardison Pereira	Migaz	Brazil	Judge
Andrii Kurnosov	Intact	Ukraine	Judge
Jess Heredia Rodriguez	Jess	Spain	Judge
Kazuhiro Arakaki	Kazuhiro	Japan	Judge
Friederike Frost	Frost	Germany	Judge
Jiulong Lian	Kowloon	China	Judge

Name	Nickname	NOC	Role
João Oliveira Freitas	Max	Portugal	Host
Malik Moujouil	Malik	France	Host
Marcin Przeplasko	Plash One	Poland	DJ
Stephen Fleg	Fleg	United States	DJ

Competition schedule

Participating NOCs

Thirty-three breakdancers from 16 nations took part in the competition. These nations include Australia with 2 dancers, Canada with 1, China with 3, Chinese Taipei with 1, France as the host nation with 4, Italy with 1, Japan with 4, Kazakhstan with 1, Lithuania with 1, Morocco with 2, Netherlands with 3, Portugal with 1, the Refugee Olympic Team with 1, South Korea with 1, Ukraine with 3, and the United States with 4.

Medal summary

Medal table

  *   Host nation (France)

Medalists

The winners of the breaking competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics were announced, showing the top performers in this new Olympic sport.

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada	1	0	0	1
	Japan	1	0	0	1
3	France*	0	1	0	1
	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
5	China	0	0	1	1
	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		2	2	2	6

Controversy

Main article: Concerns and controversies at the 2024 Summer Olympics § Reaction to Australian breaker

The breaking competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics had some issues. People talked a lot on social media about an Australian breaker named Rachael Gunn and what she wore during her performance. There was also some unkind behavior online because of wrong information shared about how the competitors were chosen.