Breaking makes its Olympic debut, while surfing and skateboarding return for their second Games along with sport climbing and 3×3 basketball.

Breaking — or breakdancing — has gone from block parties in the Bronx in the ’70s to an official Olympic sport in Paris. It’s the only new sport making its debut at the Paris Games, but a few sports have added or tweaked some events, and a quartet of other nontraditional sports return for their second Olympics.
Here’s what you need to know about the new sports and events for the 2024 Games that get underway on Friday in Paris.
Breaking makes debut

Over the decades, breaking has evolved from a dance party to a competitive sport that’s contested around the world, but the 2024 Paris Games will be the first time breakdancers will compete for Olympic gold. And it might be awhile until we see it again at the Olympics.

Breaking was voted into the 2024 Games but didn’t make the cut for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, so the earliest it could return to the Olympic stage is 2032 in Brisbane, Australia.

Sixteen men and 16 women — known as B-Boys and B-Girls — will compete in breaking, with separate one-day competitions for each. The women will compete on Aug. 9 and the men on Aug. 10. 

The competition consists of one-on-one battles. Each battle is a best-of-three contest starting with a round robin before moving to the knockout rounds for the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal battles.

The women’s qualifying round begins 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT) on Friday, Aug. 9. The medal round will take place later that day starting at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).

The men’s qualifying and medal rounds are scheduled for the same times on Saturday, Aug. 10.

Similar to gymnastics or ice skating, contestants will be judged by varied criteria that’s a mix of artistic expression and athletic power and grace. A breaker’s dance moves will be judged for creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality.

But unlike gymnasts and ice skaters, who follow a carefully planned routine to music of their own choosing, breakers will not know the music for their routine ahead of time, which places an emphasis on improvisation based on the DJ’s tracks. (Not only will we see our first Olympic gold medals handed out in breaking, but we will also see DJs leaving the Games who can for the rest of their lives call themselves Olympic DJs.)

True to its roots, the breaking competition will be held not in a stadium but a public square — Place de la Concorde — in the heart of Paris, alongside skateboarding, BMX freestyle and 3×3 basketball.

Newish sports return

Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and 3×3 basketball each made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, and each returns for a second time at the Paris Games.

Surfing

Surfing is back at the Olympics, but you won’t see any surfers hanging out in the Olympic village. The surfing competitions will take place nowhere near Paris or anywhere else in France. The Olympic surfers will be catching waves more than 9,000 miles away in Tahiti in French Polynesia. The surfing competitions begin on July 27, and the medal events are scheduled for July 30.

Skateboarding

Skateboarding will take place at Place de La Concorde and will feature separate street and park events for the men and women. Skateboarding’s street finals take place on July 27 and 28, with park finals following on Aug. 6 and 7.

Sport climbing

Sport Climbing returns for a second Olympics and will now feature two events for the men and women: a bouldering and lead combined event, and a speed event. The speed finals take place on Aug. 7 and 8, and the bouldering and lead combined finals take place on Aug. 9 and 10.

3×3 basketball

Not all basketball is played at full court, as proven by the 3×3 basketball competition that was first played four years ago in Tokyo. Former BYU star Jimmer Fredette leads the men’s US squad, who will be looking for its first 3×3 half-court gold after failing to qualify for the Tokyo games. Meanwhile, the women’s team will look to repeat as gold-medal champions. The 3×3 competitions start on July 30 with men’s and women’s finals set for Aug. 5 at Place de La Concorde.

New events to watch

What if you took the unpredictability of snowboard and crossed it with a canoe slalom course? We are about to find out when kayak cross makes its debut in Paris. It’s one of a handful of new events added to some established Olympic sports.

Kayak cross

In kayak cross, four kayakers will race against one another as they navigate six downstream gates and two upstream gates. It’ll be the first time in Canoe Slalom in which athletes race against each other instead of just the clock. I’d have to imagine whacking your opponents with your paddle is against the rules.

Artistic swimming

For the first time, men are included in the artistic swimming competition. 

The artistic swimming events don’t begin until Monday, but the racing events in the pool are well under way.

Track and field

Slight tweak to the track and field lineup: An event called the marathon race walk mixed relay is in, and the men’s 50km race walk is out. 

Boxing

A new women’s weight class has been added, and a men’s weight class has been cut, to bring the total to seven weight classes for the men and six for the women.