The 2024 Paris Olympics may feature a new sport: breakdancing.
The organizers of the games said Thursday that they were proposing breaking’s inclusion to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). They also want to see the games include skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing, although these three will already feature at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.
Breaking first emerged in the early 1970s and, although it’s largely remembered as a 1980s hip-hop phenomenon, continues to thrive. It actually made its Olympic debut last year at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires—the winner was Russia’s Sergei Chernyshev, a.k.a. Bumblebee—but it’s never before featured at the summer games.
“It is an incredible honour and privilege that, for the first time, a dance discipline is being considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games,” said World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) President Shawn Tay. “It is a humbling experience for all members and supporters of dance sport.”
As of next year’s Tokyo Games, host cities are being granted the ability to propose new sports, in order to make the program more innovative. Subsequent hosts do not need to run the same events, which is why skateboarding, surfing and climbing have to be re-proposed for Paris 2024.
The IOC’s executive board will consider the Paris proposals next month, treating breaking, skateboarding, surfing and climbing as a package. Final approval would then need to follow at a June meeting of the committee.
