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Geneva, December 8
Breakdancing has become an official Olympic sport.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) quest for urban events to appeal to a younger audience saw street dance battles officially added to the medal event program at the 2024 Paris Games.
Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were also confirmed for Paris by the IOC executive board. These three sports will make their Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games that were postponed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic to open on July 23, 2021.
Boxing, weightlifting medals to be cut
- The list of 329 medal events in Paris is 10 fewer than in Tokyo, including four lost to weightlifting.
- The quota of athletes in 2024 of 10,500 is 600 less than in 2021
- Weightlifting should have 120 athletes in Paris, which is less than half of their total at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games
In addition to the additions, the IOC made a subtraction: the list of 329 medal events in Paris is 10 less than in Tokyo, including four losses due to weightlifting, and the 2024 athlete quota of 10,500 is around 600 less than in 2021.
Two sports with struggling governing bodies – boxing and weightlifting – saw the biggest cuts in the number of athletes they can have in Paris. Weightlifting should have 120 athletes in Paris, which is less than half their total at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. The sport could be abandoned altogether due to its doping issues and IOC concerns about pace and the depth of reform in the International Weightlifting Federation. The IOC emphasized its future priorities for Paris, and beyond the Los Angeles 2028 Games, stating that it will achieve a long-term goal of equal participation of male and female athletes, and more urbanized events.
Since organizers in Paris needed time to prepare their project, the IOC maintained its pre-pandemic calendar to confirm the 2024 sports lineup this month, even before some are tested in Tokyo. Breakdancing will be called “break” in the Olympics, as it was in the 1970s by the pioneers of hip-hop in the United States.
It was proposed by the Paris organizers nearly two years ago after positive tests at the 2018 Youth Olympics. The breakup passed new stages of approval in 2019 from separate decisions by the IOC board and full membership.
In Paris, the break has become a prestigious central location, joining sport climbing and 3v3 basketball at the Place de le Concorde. The surfing will take place more than 15,000 km away in the Pacific Ocean off Tahiti. – AP / PTI
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