Two things stole the spotlight at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games: Snoop Dogg and breakdancing, its newest entrant, after testing the waters with the 2018 Youth Olympics and weighing the concerns of traditionalists, breaking made its way into the 2024 programs.
Noting its hype and reputation, the International Olympic Committee believes this move will catch the attention of a newer, younger crowd.
What Qualifies Breakdancing as a Sport?
Originating in the Bronx in New York during the late 1960s and early 70s, breaking is one of the four elements of hip hop. Deriving its name from the sporadic showcase of energetic moves during the “break” of a song, breakdancing is known to be a mix of martial arts and acrobatics, eerily similar to gymnastics. According to the decision-makers, athleticism qualifies it as a dance sport. Some common terminologies for the participants are B-girls, B-boys, and breakers.
The breaking competitions were held at the Place de la Concorde, which is popular as the venue for newer Olympic sports.
Competitors, Rules and Format:
16 B-girls and 16 B-boys from different countries participated in this 32-person competition. While popularized as urban street dance, breaking has evolved to form its own set of rules. The breakers compete in a one-on-one face-off known as throwdowns; each throwdown consists of a 60-second routine and its rebuttal. A group of 16 breakers is divided into four smaller groups that compete in the preliminary round-robin. The victors from each group move to the quarter-final knockout round.
Judges: A nine-judge panel was appointed to judge the participants based on five criteria: technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality, and originality.
The judges use a real-time slider that grades the scores and tips toward the better-performing breaker during the performance.
Every breakdance routine broadly consists of three elements:
Top Rock: Every move a breaker performs while standing up falls under top rock.
Down Rock: As the name suggests, moves down on the floor, such as spins, are called down rock.
Freeze: A breaker, like a headstand, essentially “freezes” in an unusual position during its performance.
Penalties: According to the WDSF Breaking Rules and Regulations manual, each judge is given three misbehaviour buttons: mild, moderate, and severe. Any overtly violent, sexual, or aggressive actions or gestures are considered misbehaviours. Mild misbehaviour will cost the participant a 3% point deduction in their overall score, moderate is 6%, and severe is 10%.
Emerging Stars and Winners:
According to Forbes, among the B-boys, Victor (USA), Philip Wizard (Canada), and Lee (Netherlands) are all favourites for gold. Amongst the B-girls, Nicka (Lithuania), Ayumi, and Ayumi (Japan) are frontrunners.
Winners: B-girls Ami (Japan), Nicka (Lithuania), and 671 (China) won gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. B-boys Philip Wizard (Canada) won gold, Dany Dann (France) won silver, and Victor (USA) won bronze. The men’s and women’s competitions were conducted on August 9th and 10th, respectively.
Photo by Chris Karidis on Unsplash
