Fans Go Wild Over Breaking Making Its Olympic Debut at Paris Games
By Joe Lago
![Aug 9, 2024; Paris, FRANCE; SYSSY (FRA) in the breaking B-Girls round robin competition during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at La Concorde. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports Aug 9, 2024; Paris, FRANCE; SYSSY (FRA) in the breaking B-Girls round robin competition during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at La Concorde. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5415,h_3045,x_998,y_1265/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/thebiglead_en_international_web/01j4wdgf8t8tgjz9y03n.jpg)
For Olympic host nations, one of the most treasured honors is getting to introduce new sports. Women's boxing made its debut at London 2012. Karate made the program at Tokyo 2020. The Paris Olympics followed suit with two new sports.
One of them was kayak cross. The other sport — breaking, or break dancing — began its competition on Friday, and to say it was an immediate hit with fans and viewers would be an understatement.
Breaking, which originated from hip-hop culture in New York City in the 1970s, had social media buzzing all day Friday. It also was the No. 1 trending topic on Google.
The breaking venue at Place de la Concorde was filled with fans, too.
Paris Olympic organizers, along with the International Olympic Committee, included breaking to make the Summer Games more appealing to a younger audience. The competition is scored by a panel of judges, who assess each breaker's routine that comprise three types of moves — top rock (standing), down rock (on the floor) and freeze.
The curiosity and anticipation over the sport led to genuine excitement and admiration as the competition's first event — the women's competition or B-Girls — progressed from its qualifying battles all the way to the gold medal duel on Friday.
Team USA breaker Logistx put on a show in her opening routine. 😤#ParisOlympics | E! and Peacock pic.twitter.com/nHndH0C7Dc
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
I love Olympic breakdancing and I don’t care who knows it. This rules. #OlympicGames #breaking pic.twitter.com/6qAyzSHEij
— JOE BARRY #1 FAN (@nellis_tweets) August 9, 2024
Japan's Ami out-dueled Lithuania's Nicki to win gold. The men's breaking competition will be held Saturday.
SHE'S THE ONE 🥇
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 9, 2024
B-GIRL AMI IS THE BREAKING OLYMPIC CHAMPION!
B-Girl Ami est championne olympique de breaking!#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/kNRG96etbM
Not surprisingly, hip-hop icons shared their enthusiasm for breaking on social media. And, of course, Snoop Dogg was in the house.
Olympic BreakDancing starts Today! 10am Eastern Time… This is gonna blow the minds of people that haven’t seen breaking in a while… 💥INCREDIBLE💥 All Respect to HIPHOP. pic.twitter.com/DY7zN3UBOw
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) August 9, 2024
With breaking making its Olympic debut, of course Snoop Dogg had to make an appearance. 🐶#ParisOlympics | 📺 E! and Peacock pic.twitter.com/f9VRsFNM4r
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
Unfortunately for breaking fans, the sport won't be included in the next Summer Games, and the decision to not bring it back for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics left World DanceSport Federation president Shawn Tay "profoundly disappointed."
However, there is hope breaking will return for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.