Qissa’s Guide to Breaking

Every four years the Olympics comes around and, with it, the opportunity to watch our favourite athletes and teams compete for international fame and glory. Whether you’re into the original track and field events, the artistry and skill of gymnastics (my personal favourite) or you’d rather watch your home country win at hockey or badminton, there’s pretty much something for everyone. 

When it comes to adding new events to the mix however, there is often controversy. Whether it’s skateboarding (which made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics) or the on-again off-again baseball (which first appeared in 1900!), people often have an opinion when it comes to what should and shouldn’t be an Olympic sport. But, if we look back at earlier games, there have been some rather interesting inclusions. In 1900, croquet was included and was notable for being the first event that allowed women to participate. But with only a single spectator, the game didn’t make it to the next games four years later. At those games, there was the admirable sport of ‘plunge for distance diving’: the aim being to dive into and then glide in water without making any additional movement for one minute. The person who travelled the farthest won. That feels like the kind of sport I could excel in! So now, let’s look at Breaking, the event with the most controversy for 2024. 

The History

Ok, first things first, it is now very uncool to call it breakdancing. Now that that’s cleared up… Breaking first originated in New York in the early 1970s, when hip-hop dancers at block parties began to incorporate gymnastics and martial arts into their routines. Made even more popular by films such as Flashdance in the 1980s and Step Up in the early noughties, Breaking has been performed by both men and women (known as b-boys and b-girls) in casual, party settings. It wasn’t until 1990, when The International Battle of the Year was created - commonly recognised as the first large-scale judged breaking competition - that it began to be recognised as a sport.

This is not the first Olympics appearance of Breaking however. In 2018, the sport debuted at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was incredibly popular. More than a million people watched the competition, per NBC News.

Paris Olympics

This Summer, 32 athletes (16 women and 16 men) will compete for medals. The reason for the controversy has been around the fact that the sport is, by its nature, quite subjective. But, the same could be said for gymnastics, synchronised swimming and diving, all of which have appeared at the Olympics for many years.  

Athletes will compete in face-to-face single battles, consisting of three 60-second throw downs (when a breaker hits the floor and starts breaking), with DJs spinning the music, a host on the microphone and five judges who vote at the end of each battle to decide the winner. However, as in any event such as this, the judges still score on technique, vocabulary (the variety of moves incorporated), execution, musicality and originality. What makes breaking so interesting is the spontaneous improvisation that the breakers do when they hear the music. While gymnasts spend months perfecting an exact routine, breakers will have to leave it to the day to know how they will move. 

The breaking events will take place on the 9 and 10 August at a purpose-built temporary venue at Place de la Concorde. Wanting to bring these urban sports to the city centre, breaking will be alongside skateboarding, sport climbing, BMX freestyle and 3x3 basketball in the heart of Paris. The names to watch this summer include 2023 world champions Victor Montalvo of the United States and Lithuania’s Dominika Banevic.

The Future

Breaking is actually not on the programme for the 2028 Olympics in LA. However, we hope the buzz and originality of this year’s event will help cement it as an Olympic mainstay in the years to come.