Breakdancing & Skateboarding Have Been Added to the Next Summer Olympics

Four sport are being added to the 2024 Games.

breakdancing olympics 2020
Dean Treml/Red Bull via Getty Images
Dean Treml/Red Bull via Getty Images

We may have (temporarily) missed out on the 2020 Olympics, but we're already getting a taste of what changes we'll see when the 2024 Summer Olympics hit Paris. 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced rules that, beginning with the Tokyo Games, allows the host city to propose sports for inclusion in their Games. Tokyo will include surfing, climbing, skateboarding, and karate. On Monday, December 7, the IOC approved the Paris Games proposal to include surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing. TheGames will also include breakdancing or breaking as it's more often referred to in competition. In addition to the new sports, the Paris Games will be the first time in Olympic history that there will be the exact same number of male and female athletes

The quotas will mean that athletics, boxing, and cycling will be gender-equal for the first time in history. "While we will achieve gender equality already at the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, we will see for the first time in Olympic history the participation of the exact same number of female athletes as male athletes. There is also a strong focus on youth," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

Skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing will all be making their Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, which are scheduled to start on July 23, 2021. Those Games were postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Breaking, an art form and sport, will make its Olympic debut in 2024. It got a test run at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires as part of the process toward its inaugural inclusion in the Games. A 2019 report estimated that there are around one million athletes breaking worldwide, and the 2019 Red Bull BC One World Final pulled in more than 50 million views across streaming platforms, according to Reuters. Even if you aren't paying attention, the audience is there and already enthusiastic for the competition. The 2024 Summer Olympics will start on July 26, 2024.

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Dustin Nelson is a Senior Staff Writer at Thrillist. Follow Dustin Nelson on Twitter.