Breakdancing To Be Olympic Sport?

                France 24 reported that breakdancing is one of four additional sports likely to be included at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The other three are surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding. French organizers are required to submit the recommended list to the International Olympic Committee, which must approve the additions before their inclusion is official. The IOC will announce its decisions late in 2020, after the Tokyo Games. This would be the maiden appearance for breakdancing in an Olympics, while surfing, sport climbing, and skateboarding will all be introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

                Various other IOC-recognized federations have submitted proposals for numerous other sports to be included, but the IOC is capping the number of athletes for the Paris Games at 10,500, making it less likely that other team sports will be approved. Twenty-eight sports are already on the program for the 2024 games, and local organizers say the need to construct new venues could also work against the inclusion of some new sports.

                Baseball will be a part of the Tokyo Olympics, as will Karate (naturally), and both could potentially be approved for Paris, as well. As could squash and something called Pétanque. The France Fencing Federation recently officially acknowledged “lightsaber dueling” as a competitive sport (which Sports Illustrated magazine touted as its weekly “sign of the apocalypse”), so the host nation could conceivably push for its inclusion.

                Think of this: “artistic” swimming predated baseball as an Olympic sport. And breakdancing, sport climbing, skateboarding and Pétanque could all be part of the 2024 Olympics and not baseball. If breakdancing makes the cut, it won’t be long until “moonwalking” joins it. If that is the case, I do not want to see the athletes making their way to the medal stand for the playing of the anthems.

                If more room is needed to add new sports, why don’t they just remove basketball, volleyball, tennis and gymnastics from the games? They are musty, old school relics. I’d like to see “air guitar,” quarters, tree climbing, Tiddlywinks, spelunking, Parcheesi and naked Twister added to the games. And table tennis should be replaced by beer pong. That would truly generate Olympic spirit! Who’s with me?