Photo by Pierre Tostee/World Surf League via Getty Images
There are some thrilling new sports at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
When the 2024 Paris Olympics were announced, it was also reported that there would be four new sports joining the Olympic games. This shift with the times allowed for new games to attract younger audiences and demographics, and strengthen the Olympics’ hold on the worldwide audience every four years. These four new sports are: breaking, surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding.
So, I bet you’re wondering: “JP, why the heck would breaking be an Olympic sport? And just because you put sport climbing in the name doesn’t mean it’s an actual sport.” To that I say, you would be absolutely wrong. Here’s what every new Olympic sport entails, and how you can watch.
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Breaking
Breaking (don’t call it breakdancing) debuts in the Olympics in Paris. Originally a form of dance coming out of New York in the 1970s, the world of breaking has expanded and become even more competitive, with professional breaking taking the world by storm. Being inspired by Michael Jackson and James Brown, breaking requires a lot of footwork and athleticism. Red Bull is a sponsor of professional breaking, hosting their own World championships in October of 2023 in Paris.
Breaking was first introduced to the Olympics in 2018 at the Youth Games in Buenos Aires, and now makes its’ way to center stage this summer. Sixteen men and women (B-Boys and B-Girls) will compete head to head in cyphers (one minute breaking rounds for each competitor) until the final. According to NBC, nine judges will critique the B-boys and B-girls, grading on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. Creativity and personality holding more weight than the others. Look out for B-Boy Jeffro, who is one of the favorites for the gold medal on the B-boy side. On the B-girl side, B-girl Sunny was the first US woman who qualified for the Olympics.
If you want more details on what judges are looking for and what each move you’ll see is defined as, look no further. Last year, I went to a Red Bull BC One competition to learn more about the new Olympic sport. The womens’ tournament begins on Aug. 9, with the men rounding it out Aug. 10.
Surfing
While surfing is defined as a “new” Olympic sport, it technically debuted in Tokyo in 2020, but it comes back in Paris.
Well … not exactly Paris.
NBC reports that the Olympic surfing will take place in Teahupo’o, located in the French Polynesia. Why? Because Teahupo’o is also known as having the best waves in the surfing world. Surfer magazine reports that Teahupo’o is loosely translated to the “wall of skulls”, and the waves are known for being extremely dangerous. However, it doesn’t come without controversy. Locals have speculated about how the event being hosted here would affect the nature and marine life, and with the construction of an aluminum tower to watch surfers, it grew into ire.
From July 27 to August 5, surfers from around the world will take on the waves, 24 men and women competing for gold. If you’re wondering how Olympic surfing is scored, the Olympic website says that there will be five judges for the competition. Each surfer has waves, with the highest and lowest score for each wave being thrown out, the average score coming from that. There’s no limit to the amount of waves a surfer can catch, and heats can last up to 35 minutes depending on the conditions. A perfect wave is considered ten points.
Now, how do judges score these heats? There are five separate criteria, all coming together to make the final score:
1. Commitment and degree of difficulty
This one is pretty simple. This means the types of moves and the difficulty of said moves. Maximizing the wave’s potential matters a lot to the judges, and the higher difficulty of move, the better it looks to the judges.
2. Innovative and progressive maneuvers
Doing creative moves and pushing the boundaries of what is known in surfing, judges look for creativity when a surfer is riding a wave. Aerials and tailslides are examples of these moves
3. Variety of maneuvers
How many moves you can do during your heat, pretty much. But don’t let quantity get in the way of quality.
4. Combination of major maneuvers
How you blend together your big moves during your heat.
5. Speed, power and flow
Speed is how fast a surfer is going and how quickly a surfer adjusts to the waves. Power is how much force the surfer is putting into their maneuvers, and flow is how they all connect.
Duke Kahanamoku’s dream of getting surfing into the Olympic limelight has finally come true, and now it’s finally made it.
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Skateboarding
Skateboarding is nothing new in the public light. Tony Hawk, Nyjiah Houston and many more have sparked the American interest in skateboarding, and it returns to the Olympics after a run in Tokyo in 2020. There are four events being held in Paris: mens’ and womens’ street and park. Preliminaries see skateboarders use their coordination to do tricks in mid-air with the various equipment in the area. In street, skaters get two 45-second runs, while in park, there are three 45-second runs. During these runs, a competitor gets to show off their creativity, height and speed of their jumps to the judges, who count the best of their three runs as their preliminary score. During these runs, skaters are allowed five “tricks”, moves done that are graded by the judges.
If you’re wondering, “street” is different from the park because of the equipment in the area competitors have to use to impress the judges. In street there are handrails, stairs and other things that resemble what most folks see on a day to day basis. Park will still have some rails, but it’s more bowl-shaped and skaters have to focus on finding the through lines in the bowl.
Skating might also have the most diverse group of competitors based on age. 11-year-old Zheng Haohao of China is the youngest member of the group, but on the men’s side, 50-year-old Andy MacDonald of Great Britain. That’s what the sport is about, and from July 27-August 7, skaters will get to show it off.
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Sport Climbing
According to the Olympics, sport climbing has up to 68 competitors competing for gold, and although it was in Tokyo in 2020, sport climbing returns with a change. In Paris, men and women will compete in bouldering and lead combined event as well as speed climbing.
Speed climbing sounds exactly like what you think it is: there’s a near 50-foot wall, climbers race for time. The combined event is based more on the various moves a climber does, and less on speed. Bouldering shows the climbers different walls, and the climbers have to reach the finish of all of them within the time that they’re given. Climbers can make as many attempts as they like, but if they fail to reach a checkpoint, they lose points. In lead, there’s only one attempt, but climbers try to go as high as possible in six minutes, earning more points as you climb. Bouldering and lead are combined, with the maximum points one can earn set at 200.
From Aug. 7-10, sport climbing will take the stage and competitors will try and reach heights unknown to man.
