The buzz around breaking’s Olympic debut is indeed being celebrated by many across the global hip-hop community, from early pioneers of the genre to fans of the culture. Rappers Ice-T and Snoop Dogg expressed their excitement over the breaking competition, with Ice-T tweeting the event “could possibly be one of the HipHop culture’s proudest moments.” The breaking competition comprised two gender-based medal events (one for men and the other for women) where sixteen B-Boys and sixteen B-Girls competed against each other. I analysed the Tokyo 2020 Games to find that when it came to its medal tally, Japan benefited from local favourites like karate, skateboarding, baseball and softball. A mild misbehavior — an accidental, unintentional or nonaggressive act or gesture — results in a three percent point deduction. Breaking, performed by dancers known as B-Boys and B-Girls, is a dynamic dance style that features a mix of moves such as intricate footwork, popping, and backspins.

Where in Paris is breaking being held?

The two best breakers from each group will advance to the quarterfinal stage where competitors will be seeded from one to eight. More one-on-one battles will commence in the knockout format, advancing breakers to the semifinals and medal rounds based on their throw down scores. In the early 1970s, DJ Kool Herc, known for his neighborhood parties, observed that dancers would become particularly energetic during the “break” sections of his tracks—moments when the music stripped down to just the percussion. To extend these breaks and give dancers more time to shine, Herc began using a technique called the “Merry-Go-Round,” which involved playing two copies of the same record and switching between them on two turntables.

How does Olympic breaking work? What are the rules?

• It brings unprecedented visibility and legitimacy to breaking, potentially attracting new participants and fans to the art form.
• Breaking was born out of the vibrant hip-hop scene, which also gave rise to graffiti, MCing (rapping), and DJing.
• Apart from the usual core Olympic programme, the host country of each Olympics has five additional slots that they can fill with the sports of their preference.
• Two sports with troubled governing bodies — boxing and weightlifting — saw the biggest cuts to the number of athletes they can have in Paris.

Soccer—which is a much more global economic engine than baseball—remains, despite the world’s best players shunning the Olympics because it pales in comparison to the World Cup, and even their domestic professional competitions. In a unique twist, competitors will not know the music ahead of time, leaving their fates in the hands of a DJ and their own improvisation throughout the event. The trivium judging system that will be used in Paris was developed by influential B-boy Storm and DJ Renegade for the 2018 Youth Olympics, and has been fine-tuned through the series of WDSF events since.

Competition schedule

Canada, China, France and the Netherlands could also see their competitors in the medal mix. Sunny Choi (or B-girl Sunny) and Logan Edra (or B-girl Logistx) will represent Team USA on the women’s side. Choi won the 2023 Pan American Games, while Edra has had past success in Red Bull’s international breaking competition, BC One. Victor Montalvo, who competes as B-boy Victor, qualified for Paris by winning the 2023 world championships in Belgium. He’s been competing for more than a decade and is widely considered to be one of the top competitive breakers in the world. B-boy Jeffro will be the other American man in the field after he nabbed a late qualifying spot.

A panel of five judges scores each breaker on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. Hip-Hop, one of the most influential breakers in history is Jojo, a trailblazing B-boy who founded the Rock Steady Crew. Battling since the age of nine years old, Jojo aimed to reinvigorate the breakdancing scene by injecting new energy into the community with his crew members.

Breaking’s path to the Olympics began in earnest in 2018 when it was included in the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The event was a resounding success, attracting over a million viewers and demonstrating breaking’s potential as a crowd-pleasing Olympic sport. DJing, or disc jockeying, is the art made a post of selecting, mixing, and playing recorded music for an audience.