Olympics 2024: Paris to Host the World's First Olympic Breakdancing Competition

In addition to traditional sports, the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will feature medals in four extreme sports: street skateboarding, breakdancing, 3x3 basketball and BMX freestyle park. A total of 32 people - 16 men and 16 women - will compete for breakdancing medals. RFI reports.

Breakdancing is a mixture of choreography and physical performance. 

"It's a dance, it's an art, but it's true that it requires physical strength," explains Munir Amhiln, a finalist at Paris Battle Pro. 

The breakdance battles will take place on 9 and 10 August at the Place de la Concorde in the centre of Paris

Among other participants from France, the 2022 European breakdance champion Dany Dann will take part in the event, hoping to become one of the first Olympic medallists in history.

Dann will take part in the Olympic Games along with three other French breakdancers who have not yet qualified.

"I know the Olympics are huge, but I don't feel stressed because I can't be afraid of something I haven't seen or experienced [before]," the dancer said.

The competition will also feature B-Boy Victor, who won gold at the 2023 World Breakdancing Championships. He has also won twice at Red Bull BC One, an annual international breakdancing competition.

Other contenders include Canadian B-Boy Phil Wizard, who won the world title in 2022 and was a silver medallist last year, and South Korean B-Boy Hong-10, winner of Red Bull BC One in 2023.

In the women's competition, the favourites are Japan's B-Girl Ami, the 2022 world gold medallist and two-time Red Bull BC One winner, and Lithuania's B-Girl Nicka, the reigning world and European champion.

The International Olympic Committee has included breakdancing in the 2020 Olympic Games programme to adapt the games to the new living conditions after the pandemic.