Breakdancing - the Olympics' newest discipline

As the world's eyes turn to Tokyo for the Olympics, some athletes are already setting their sights on the next Summer Games in Paris, in 2024. That's when breakdancing will debut as an official Olympic sport. In New York City, three of the world's top competitive breakdancers talk about their hopes of competing in the 2024 Games.

Source: AP

Highlights

• Breakdancing was born in the 1970s by hip-hop pioneers in the United States
• Breakdancing will be called "breaking" at the Games, as it was by its founders
• Breakdancing debut to Olympics will inspire a new generation of dancers

While skateboarding, surfing, BMX and rockclimbing will be making their debuts at the Tokyo Olympics this month, another unconventional sport will have to wait a little longer. Breakdancing was born in the 1970s by hip-hop pioneers in the United States.

But in 2024, it will truly enter the mainstream when it debuts at the Paris Olympics. 26 year-old Ukrainian breakdancer Kateryna Pavlenko, who dances under the name 'B-Girl Kate', hopes she'll be there.

 

"There is a foundation to this, you have to create your own identity, you have to have your own originality, you have to be creative, you have to dance to the music. There is a foundation with the moves. You know that you have to learn to understand more of it, to have more vocabulary," says breakdancer  Victor Montalvo.