Fencing, 100 meters, basketball or even judo. So many sports appearing among the 28 titular disciplines and that we are used to seeing every 4 years during the Summer Olympics. Since the adoption of the recommendations of the Olympic Agenda established in 2014 by the IOC, each host country can now submit additional sports to the IOC.
For Paris 2024, the Committee validated four: le-surfing, climbing, breakdancing and skateboarding. Of these four additional disciplines, three were already present in Tokyo in 2021 and have been renewed thanks to their success. These are surfing, rock climbing and skateboarding.
Surfing was the success of the 2021 Olympics. The Brazilian Italo Ferreira was crowned the very first Olympic champion in this discipline, which has the particularity of not taking place in the host city, given that it obviously requires the ocean and its waves. Last year the events were held in Ichinomiya and this is the site of Teahupo’o à Tahiti which has been selected for the 2024 edition. The surfers will be graded on each wave taken from 0 to 10 during rounds of 20 to 35 minutes and the 2 best will thus be kept.
In Paris as in Tokyo, sport climbing will combine three events: bouldering, speed and difficulty. In Japan, Alberto Gines Lopez was crowned Olympic champion, notably ahead of the Frenchman Mickaël Mawen, who finished 5th. Skateboarding will also be back with the park and street events, which will take place in Concorde in Paris. In 2021, local skater Yuto Horigome was the best by winning the gold medal, ahead of the French Aurélien Giraud and Vincent Matheron in particular.
Breakdance, a first in history
These three disciplines have more than convinced the organizers, who indeed wish to integrate them into the list of titular sports for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. An integration that would lead to the withdrawal of other sports such as boxing or weightlifting, which must meet the reform requirements demanded of them by the IOC. Note that, after appearing for the first time in Tokyo, karate will not be part of the dancethe IOC preferring more urban, popular, spectacular sports that reach a young audience.
On the other hand, it will be a great first for breakdance. This dance called the “breakin” at its beginnings in the districts of the Bronx of the 1970s, will be composed of two events, a female and a male, which will oppose in the form of “battles” in one against one, 16 B-Girls et 16 B-Boys. Coupole, thomas, freeze, six-step are notably figures, punctuated by the DJ, which can be found at Concorde on August 9 and 10, 2024.
The French break team, currently affiliated with the French dance federation, will be led by Abdel Moustapha, who did not hide his enthusiasm at the idea of being part of the history of his discipline at the Olympics: “He first had to have our discipline recognized, then create official competitions as the French Championship”, he explained during an interview au Figaro. Perhaps he will go down in history even more in three years by participating in the first crowning of the break in the history of the Olympic Games.
