The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Monday breakdancing will join the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games as part of its desire to make the global event “fit for the post-corona world.”
It will join surfing, skateboarding and climbing, which will be retained after debuts at the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021.
The decision to embrace youth culture comes just weeks after World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said competitors should be able to “take the knee” in protest at whatever they want at the Paris event, as Breitbart News reported.
Coe’s assurance means an end to the political neutrality the modern Olympic movement has embraced since it was founded in 1896.
As part of that push for change at all costs, breakdancing will be called “breaking” at the Olympics, which is what it was referred to in the 1970s by hip-hop pioneers in the United States.
“It’s going to be great for breaking as it gives us more recognition as a sport,” British breakdancer Karam Singh told BBC Sport.
“And for the Olympics, it will attract young people who may not follow some of the traditional sports.”
Also Monday, the IOC announced the 2024 Paris Games will feature 100 percent gender equality in its athlete quotas. The 2024 event will have exactly 50 percent male and female participation, surpassing that of the Tokyo Games.
“With this program, we are making the Olympic Games Paris 2024 fit for the post-corona world,” IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement Monday. “We are further reducing the cost and complexity of hosting the Games.
“While we will achieve gender equality already at the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, we will see for the first time in Olympic history the participation of the exact same number of female athletes as male athletes. There is also a strong focus on youth.”