Paris Olympics 2024: Breakdancing, Karate and Baseball

Breakdancing will be included in the Olympic program for the first time in the Paris 2024 edition, alongside climbing, skateboarding, and surfing, which were first introduced in the recent Tokyo Olympics. However, karate and baseball will be excluded.

Among the 28 sports, which will feature a total of 329 competitions (10 fewer than the 2021 Tokyo Olympics), there are other changes as well, with the addition of the mixed 35 km racewalk, canoe slalom extreme, and kiteboarding in sailing.

The newcomer, breakdancing, will be the only new sport to join the program, just like sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing were in Tokyo. These four sports are still in a precarious position and are considered "additional sports" as they are subject to final review by the Executive Committee to be confirmed in the long term.

Breakdancing emerged in the United States in the 1970s and officially became a sport in the Youth Olympics in 2018 in Buenos Aires.

Organizers said, "The competition will consist of two categories, one for girls and one for boys, with 16 participants in each, facing off head-to-head."

The competitions are scheduled to take place on August 9th and 10th at the Place de la Concorde, which is dedicated to street sports such as freestyle BMX, skateboarding, and basketball.

The climbing competition will be held in "Bourgogne," with one change: instead of having three categories (bouldering, speed, and lead) to achieve the full score, there will be a separate speed competition, while the other two categories will be combined.

The surfing competition will take place in Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean on the famous Teahupo'o coast for this sport.

In track and field, the 50 km racewalk for men, which has been part of the Olympics since 1932, will be canceled and replaced by the mixed 35 km racewalk, with one male and one female athlete in each team, at the Olympics scheduled between July 26th and August 11th.

Women's boxing will witness a new weight category instead of an existing one for men.

In canoe slalom, two new extreme categories will replace two existing ones in straight canoe slalom.

In Marseille, the marina will host two new sailing categories: "iQFoil" (windsurfing) and "Kite Foil" or "Formula Kite."

Karate, which was introduced for the first time in Japan two years ago, will not be part of Paris 2024.

The organizers preferred the more modern, popular, and appealing street sports, especially for teenagers.

As for baseball, which was present between 1992 and 2008, absent in 2012 and 2016, and returned to Tokyo in 2021, it will not be part of the Paris 2024 program, similar to softball.

Being very popular in the United States, it is expected to return to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP