Breakdancing Proposed as Olympic Sport for 2024 Summer Games in Paris

Breakdancing debuted at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.

Fabian Ramella/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Organizers proposed adding breakdancing as a new Olympic sport in Paris during the 2024 Summer Games, according to the Associated Press.

A final decision won't be reached by the International Olympic Committee until after the 2020 Tokyo Games. Organizers would also like to see climbing, surfing and skateboarding added in Paris after all three sports make their Olympic debuts in Tokyo. The proposal included entering 248 athletes for the four sports, which would be evenly split between male and female participants, reports the AP.

The IOC capped the number of Olympic participants at 10,500, meaning space will have to be made elsewhere to accommodate any sports added in Paris.

Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris organizing committee, said including new sports would make the Games "more urban" and "more artistic," reports the BBC.

Breakdancing started in the 1970s in the Bronx as a part of hip-hop culture and eventually spread worldwide. In 2018, it debuted at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Dancers between the ages of 16-18 competed head-to-head in either men's, women's or mixed-team battles. The breakers were judged on six criteria: personality, technique, variety, creativity, perfomativity and musicality.

How It Works:

Breakers submitted videos online to compete in the Youth Olympics. The winners were selected to participate in the World Breaking Championships in Japan for a chance to advance to the Youth Olympics. In Buenos Aires, the competition was broken down to three phases.

Phase 1: The preselection phase gave breakers one round for a showcase before five judges. The top 32 males and top 16 females were ranked by the judges before advancing to the next phase.

Phase 2: The preliminary phase featured a round robin format with two rounds. Each breaker battled three times per round, and their cumulative number of rounds and votes from judges determined their placement in phase two. The top four breakers advanced to the knock-out rounds.

Phase 3: Each battle in the knock-out phase had four rounds. Battles were split in half with a 90-second pause. One breaker started the first half of the battle and their competitor started the second half. Phase three acted as both the semi-finals and final round.

In the individual competitions, Russia's Sergei "Bumblebee" Chernyshev won the men's final and Ramu Kawai of Japan won the women's.

The 2024 Summer Games will be hosted in Paris from Friday, July 26-Sunday, Aug. 11.