It’s the sixth century BCE. Nikos, a lone Greek athlete, stands in the ring as the crowd waits breathlessly for his display of strength and speed. As hip-hop music fills the air, the Olympian sets down his sword and steadies himself momentarily. Then, he stands on his head, flips like a fish out of water, and spins his arms bizarrely. His years of training had never prepared him for the triumph he felt as he took home the Gold for break-dancing.
While Nikos’s story is a fun piece of fiction, there is truth behind it. The Olympics have welcomed the “sport” of break-dancing into the arena.
Breakdancing, or “breaking,” is debuting in the 2024 Paris Olympics. This “dance sport” features acrobatic moves, stylish footwork, and impressive athleticism, with dancers performing gravity-defying tricks like “headspins,” “windmills,” and “freezes.”
Breaking first appeared at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it captured the attention of over 1 million viewers. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has added it to the official Olympic program for Paris 2024.
The competition will have separate events for men and women, with sixteen B-boys and sixteen B-girls battling it out in solo performances. Key techniques include top rock (standing footwork), down rock (floor moves), power moves (twists and spins), and freezes (posing on heads or hands).
Breaking joins other new Olympic sports like skateboarding, climbing, and surfing, all aimed at engaging a younger audience.
It’s not the dumbest Olympic sport ever, though. There are several contenders for that honor.
In 1932, the sport of club swinging made its debut. Competitors spun bowling pin-shaped clubs around themselves in a choreographed routine. Perhaps not surprisingly, the sport only drew four participants.
But decades before athletes were spinning clubs, croquet had a brief and short-lived appearance in the Olympics. In 1904, the competition had only one spectator. All the athletes were French, and all were women. While the competition featured some of the first female athletes, it was a complete flop and was removed from the games.
The SPCA would be offended by the next contender for the stupidest Olympic sport, live pigeon shooting. During the 1900 Olympics in Paris, over 300 pigeons were shot and killed. The pigeons were let out of spring boxes in the middle of a fenced area. To score a point, a shooter had to hit a pigeon so that it fell inside the ring. They were out of the competition if they missed two pigeons in a row. It was the only time this event was part of the Olympics, and it’s unlikely to return.
In the early 80s and early 90s, a sport called solo synchronized swimming made waves in the Olympics. While synchronized swimming involves multiple swimmers coordinating their movements, solo synchronized swimming requires one swimmer whose only goal is keeping time with the music as they perform.
Tug-of-war was an Olympic event from 1900 to 1920. Countries could send more than one team so that they could win more than one medal in the same event. For example, the United States and Britain won gold, silver, and bronze medals in 1904 and 1908. It will probably not return to the Olympics unless the Tug of War International Federation can persuade the Olympic Committee to bring it back. And yes, the Tug of War International Federation is a real organization.
Pistol dueling was part of the unofficial 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, but it was only for men. Participants shot at plaster dummies. It came back as a demonstration event at the 1908 Olympics in London, where the competitors shot at each other. No one got hurt because the bullets were made of wax, and the duelists wore special coats and masks for protection. This is one sport we can safely say will not return to the Olympic games.
If you don’t quite want to walk but don’t feel like running, then race walking is the Olympic sport you never knew you needed. Athletes must always keep one foot on the ground. Also, when one leg moves forward, the knee has to stay straight. There are judges at these races who keep an eye out for any mistakes. If a walker lifts both feet off the ground or bends their knee, they get a warning. If they get three warnings, they’re disqualified from the race. Watching this sport is like watching drunken penguins head for the ocean.
Nikos wouldn’t recognize today’s Olympics, but he would have probably been a great break dancer.
