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Breaking provisionally added for 2024 Olympics

By OlympicTalkJun 25, 2019, 11:59 AM EDT
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Breaking (don’t call it break dancing) was provisionally added to the Olympics for the 2024 Paris Games.

The IOC also announced Tuesday that skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were provisionally added to the 2024 Olympic program. Those three sports will debut at Tokyo 2020 but were not assured places on the Olympic program beyond next year.

“They contribute to making the program more gender balanced and more urban, and offer the opportunity to connect with the younger generation,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a press release. “The proposed sports are in line with these principles and enhance Paris 2024’s overall dynamic Games concept, which focuses on inclusivity, inspiring a new audience and hosting socially responsible Games.”

The IOC Executive Board will make the final decision on the Paris 2024 event program in December 2020, but no more sports can be proposed for inclusion. That means baseball and softball, which return to the Olympics next year, will not be on the 2024 Olympic program. Those sports can still be added for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Breaking debuted at the Youth Olympics last year, where the U.S. did not have any athletes. Sergei “Bumblebee” Chernyshev of Russia and Ramu Kawai of Japan took gold medals.

Breaking had never previously been up for a vote for Olympic inclusion, but the World DanceSport Federation is recognized by the IOC.

Teenagers, some of whom went by nicknames like Bad Matty, Senorita Carlota and KennyG, went head-to-head in dance battles at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires last year. They performed on a mat atop an outdoor basketball court to a musical beat and emcees.

Judges determined winners using six criteria: creativity, personality, technique, variety, perfomativity and musicality.

“Breaking (also called b-boying or b-girling) is an urban dance style,” according to the Youth Olympics. “The urban dance style originated during the mid 1970s in the Bronx borough of New York City.”

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IOC pledges €500,000 to help restore Notre Dame ahead of 2024 Olympics

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By OlympicTalkApr 18, 2019, 3:42 PM EDT
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The International Olympic Committee plans to donate €500,000 ($562,000) to the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in the 2024 Olympic host city.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he wants to see Notre Dame restored within five years.

“The aim of completing the reconstruction in time for Paris 2024 will be an extra motivation for all of us,” IOC president Thomas Bach wrote in a Wednesday letter to Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet, according to a translation by Agence France-Presse, which reported Notre Dame is on the planned marathon and road cycling routes. “All the Olympic Movement and in particular the IOC have been extremely touched by the instantaneous connection the French have made between Notre Dame cathedral and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

More than $500 million has been pledged overall from around the globe after a fire ravaged the 850-year-old cathedral on Monday.

NBC News has more on the Notre Dame fire here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Paris 2024 faces Olympic decision on baseball, softball

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By Nick ZaccardiDec 20, 2017, 3:54 PM EST
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Baseball and softball are back in the Olympics in 2020, but not beyond that, though Paris 2024 organizers can propose to add the sports for their Games.

Will they?

“I can’t tell you now, and it’s a good question,” Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet said Wednesday. “We will meet and work with the different federations interested in [joining the 2024 Olympic program].”

That likely means many meetings.

Tokyo 2020, the first Olympic host allowed to propose adding sports for its edition of the Games, said 26 international federations responded to its invitation to be considered for inclusion.

Tokyo 2020 trimmed it to eight finalists, then proposed five sports (karate, sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing and baseball/softball as one sport) to the IOC in September 2015. The IOC approved all of them 11 months later.

Baseball and softball return to the Olympics in 2020 for the first time since 2008. But the IOC has not added the sports back into the Olympic program full-time.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation repeated its desire to stay on the Olympic program for 2024 on the same day that the IOC announced Paris would get the 2024 Games and LA the 2028 Games on Sept. 13.

Los Angeles bid officials, who put Dodger Stadium on a 2015 list of potential Olympic venues (but none since), have not announced whether they would propose baseball and softball for 2028.

The Olympic Charter says the Olympic program must be finalized three years before the Games.

“We have now a lot of offers, and many sports want to be a part of the Games,” Estanguet said Wednesday. “I can’t tell you, honestly, because we haven’t decided yet. We have more than two years to propose something to the IOC. We have time.”

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