Breakdancing – or breaking as it is known – evolved in New York in the 1960s and 70s as a way for rival street gangs to fight for turf. It made its Olympic debut at the 2018 Summer Youth Games in Buenos Aires. The IOC has confirmed it will be staged at a prestigious downtown venue [in Paris in 2024], joining sport climbing and 3-on-3 basketball at Place de la Concorde....
December 8, 2020
Asserting the intent to make the Olympics "more gender balanced, more youthful and more urban," they've added the sport of breakdancing.
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Not the daftest thing added to the Games, and it'll only be for the one year (each host-nation gets to add a few daftnesses on their 'turn'), so sit back and enjoy the nonsense!
H
Does anyone, in significant numbers, watch the Olympics these days? I don't and the people I know, other than my MIL who is 88 years old, don't either. Also strange to publish this news about an event planned for 2024 in 2020.
Not masked singing? Isn’t that more “now”?
...joining sport climbing...
parkour parkour parkour
France missed the bateau on this...
How gangs fought for turf? That's complete BS. Did they think West Side Story was real?
Me: Guess what the new Olympic sport is.
She: Vote counting?
Breakdancing ...evolved in New York in the 1960s and 70s as a way for rival street gangs to fight for turf.
Sounds implausible.
The East German judges are ready for this Glorious New Sport of The People.
I am Laslo.
Haven't watched the Olympics since my college days in the 70s. The entertainment industry ruined the once great competition. It all became about 'stories'about the athletes, not about performances. National pride became an embarrassing distraction to the networks. The beginnings of'woke'.
Breakdancing is quite athletic, so it's sort of in the same bucket as figure dancing, which I believe is also an Olympic sport. As sops to diversity go, this is not at all offensive, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to add it as a permanent event.
Still wouldn't watch it, though. I don't think I've watched any Olympic events . . . ever? I must have watched a little when I was a child, at least for the 1988 Olympics.
Summer Olympics are staged for advertisers' benefit. Some folks I know may watch a bit of the winter stuff. Not quite as old as stevew's MIL, but there's that.
>>Breakdancing ...evolved in New York in the 1960s and 70s as a way for rival street gangs to fight for turf.
Of course. The drive by shootings are just dance reviews.
I remember the Russian women's swim team doping scandal. "We came to swim, not to sing", she said.
Summer Olympics are staged for advertisers' benefit.
They're a corruptocrat payday. A wealth transfer scheme from the government fisc to politically connected grifters.
Just like the Paris Accord!
Yeah...the Olympics started their tanking a couple of decades ago when they started inviting non track and field or traditional winter events into the show.
Ice Dancing is bad enough. But we've seen badminton, tug-of-war, croquet, curling, baseball. Baseball?, and others.
The Olympics, like much of today's world, are almost meaningless now and certainly not what they used to be. I don't even bother to watch them anymore. I can't get through the hours of tear tugging personal stories that NBC lines up for days. It's an NBC production, it's not athletic competition.
Sigh. I was hoping they’d add karaoke. It’s very competitive in some cultures.
More urban and youthful: Chicago-style biathlon. Joke there. Thank you.
I am Laslo.
Nike is probably already at work designing cardboard for the dancers.
Competitive hot dog eating never gets the international respect it deserves.
More gender balanced? I'm not sure I've ever seen a female break dancer. Do they mean that they're hoping that lots of women are going to *watch* break dancing?
Breakdancing
Until comparatively recently, and sometimes still today, it has been among the blackest of sports, a game of street gangs with restrictive admissions policies.
I would watch if it was presented on ice during the Winter Olympics
IMHO any event requiring the decision of judges to declare a winner is bogus from the get-go. Sure, gymnasts are great athletes but when the margin between 1st and 2nd is 0.003 points, I just don't get it. OTOH, I don't know how to solve that problem either.
are they STILL trying have 'Olympics'?
That is SO 20th Century. As If people care
There is no end to modern stupidity and ridiculousness. Everything must be made to be a caricature of what it once was. All must be torn down and reduced to rubble.
It will join ice skating as the most fudge-able of events.
Laslo Spatula said...
More urban and youthful: Chicago-style biathlon.
Now THAT would be interesting. The ancient field events were all military events
Let's get Modern!
Drive-By shootings, cafeteria shivving, pillow cases full of soda cans
Let's make it "more youthful and more urban,"
Does this end the big push to make competition mummenschanz an Olympic sport?
Give me a freaking break. No wrestling, no baseball...but BREAKDANCING?? Woke Olympic are going to lose viewers just like the NBA, NFL and Womens Soccer have because they think they know better than their fans.
Is there still time to add Twerking?
They were going to make it rapping...but then Eminem, Machine Gun Kelly, and Action Bronson screwed that up.
The effort to make the Olympics more urban is commendable. May I suggest Turnstile Jumping and Baby Mama Impregnating? Note: Those are separate events.
If ballroom dancing and synchronized swimming can be Olympic sports, why not break dancing?
There's no longer a justification for excluding any activity that requires coordination. Just wait until video gaming becomes an Olympic sport.
If it's to add diversity, it better be a winter sport since, in the summer games , people of color are well represented in track and field. Winter Olympics still seems pretty white.
Apparently break dancing is very popular in Asian countries. And there are international competitions happening already. I think it's mostly passé here, though, which is sort of typical, right? We're always moving on to something else, going new school, when it comes to dance, what is fashionable now, have no idea, Dancing with the Stars? A return to more traditional forms of dance maybe.
The best international team sports are examples of ritualized combat like breakdancing. Yeah dat’s da ticket.
I thought the Olympics jumped the shark with all of the ridiculous Winter X games stuff. Guess I was wrong.
There's no longer a justification for excluding any activity that requires coordination.
Peak 2020: competitive vote counting is definitely a coordinated effort!
Can the Olympics get more absurd? what's next twiddle-winks?
The whole thing is unwatchable, unless you cheat and get the BBC coverage. Then NBC coverage is not only amazing stupid, its full of commercials, and - as always - aimed at middle-aged women.
IMHO any event requiring the decision of judges to declare a winner is bogus from the get-go. Sure, gymnasts are great athletes but when the margin between 1st and 2nd is 0.003 points, I just don't get it. OTOH, I don't know how to solve that problem either.
Parkour isn't a bad way to go. You have to apply your gymnastics skills to navigating an obstacle course.
Personally, I'd love to see three-gun added to the Olympics.
The only sports about which The Olympics should concern itself are the martial sports. IOW, sports that have a direct application to fighting and war.
Wrestling and judo - yes
Javelin - yes
Running and jumping - yes
Basketball - no
Volleyball - no
Ping pong - no
Is break dancing still even a thing?
I've given up on caring about the olympics. NBC's coverage of the last Olympics ended all my interest. They can do what they want, but I will ask this; dance as a competition has existed for over a century. Why only allow breakdancing? I'm asking, because if they elevated Salsa, I might tune back in. Heck, that might even beat beach volleyball as most watched.
Don't worry. The Olympics aren't going to happen, anyway.
Ron Swanson is an accomplished break dancer.
Break dancing? Eh. I can't bring myself to care one way or the other.
I knew Western Civilization was collapsing when the "sport" of "Speed Walking" was added. The most pathetic "competition" I've ever seen in my life. It is exactly analogous to a competition to see who can whisper the loudest.
Next will be painting, musicals and ball room dancing.
Qwinn said...
I knew Western Civilization was collapsing when the "sport" of "Speed Walking" was added. The most pathetic "competition" I've ever seen in my life. It is exactly analogous to a competition to see who can whisper the loudest.
12/8/20, 8:13 AM
How about this for a "cross-over" event? Combine speed walking with archery. Paired up countries shot at each others walkers. You get points for both speed of the walkers and accuracy of the archers. The archers get a limited number of arrows and you gain extra point for hitting the more distant walkers. I would watch that.
O'Sullivan's Law states that any organization or enterprise that is not expressly right wing will become left wing over time. The law is named after British journalist John O 'Sullivan.
NBA halftime shows, Mock. Something else you'd never watch. The Santa Cruz Warriors G-League bball team had a local troupe pretty regular. It's really a form of gymnastics. I don't recall women doing it. Most guys are short and sinewy. One guy was built like a jello bowling ball who made up for it in style. It's very entertaining for a few minutes once a month or so.
How long before the exciting sport of Speed Texting is added?
The quest to be Woke or the Wokest (can that be a word) has ruined everything...especially the Olympics
Transgender men competing against women
Social distanced wrestling?
and now stupid passe fad events. How about a Hula Hoop competition.
Perhaps to be totally Woke, to avoid cries of too many white people or too few whatever the latest disadvantaged group of the day is...everyone competes wrapped in giant Glad Garbage bags, or whole body condoms, with only their eyes visible. That way we won't know anything about the contestant.
Might be tough on the swimming events though.
The Olympics were on my fairly short list of "must watch" events. I was glued to the TV for hours on end.
Now I don't watch at all.
I recall an Olympics from sometime in the 1980s. There was a "heartwarming" story of (IIRC) an athlete who lost his wife in a car wreck. He was injured too. The brought this up maybe 6 or 7 times before the event. No discussion of the sport. No breakdown of who was among the favorites. Just this ain't-it-tragic story over and over.
I think he placed 6th.
Just like the Oscars, I can't imagine why I would ever tune in again.
How about the sucker-punch-a-random-white-guy as an event?
Or car-jacking?
Or the UPS package snatch?
Or freestyle looting?
Quinn: it's not as easy as it looks. The Santa Cruz track club has a speed walking group with their own coach. I did several workouts with them on the advice of my coach. In many ways it's more difficult than running. Tim Hutton played an Olympic speed walker in a early '60's film in Tokyo.
Try doing a 10k in 45-minutes while always keeping one foot on the ground.
The Olympics were supposed to take place in Tokyo in Spring/Summer 2020. They rescheduled for 2021 after Covid hit. I don't think it will happen because the Left has other plans.
Tommy Duncan said...
How about the sucker-punch-a-random-white-guy as an event?
Or car-jacking?
Or the UPS package snatch?
Or freestyle looting?
Personally, I'd pay to watch a 200m Rioting event. I mean, if you want to get all youthful and urban....
At the ancient Olympic and Delphic Games the recitation of poetry and choral and instrumental performance were major elements of the celebration. The long jump was actually accompanied by flautists. So, if they were ever to return, I am sure Pindar and Sophocles would "pop and lock" with the best of them.
The real main events this year are Competitive Voter Fraud and Partisan Judge Corruption.
As always, Democrats field the only team, and take all 3 medals.
The "sport" of breakdancing? I never knew. I can't wait to see how the DJ fits into that. Also:
This means - next year - Competitive Pot Smoking!!!
"The East German judges are ready for this Glorious New Sport of The People."
Philadelphia, then?
Dust Bunny Queen asked...
The quest to be Woke or the Wokest (can that be a word)
no, No, No, NO!
You can Only become Woker.... WokEST would imply that there was an attainable endspot;
That Someone could Conceivably become AS WOKE AS ONE COULD BECOME
and We KNOW, that That is not only a LIE... But a RACIST LIE
There are NO END to the limits of Wokeness, it is a Never Ending Journey
No Matter HOW WOKE one is... zhe can Always become EVEN MORE WOKE
The Crack Emcee said...
The "sport" of breakdancing? I never knew. I can't wait to see how the DJ fits into that. Also:
This means - next year - Competitive Pot Smoking!!!
{hi Crack MC!} And, it's About time!
1
The Smoke Off-Shel Silverstein
>>The real main events this year are Competitive Voter Fraud and Partisan Judge Corruption.
> As always, Democrats field the only team, and take all 3 medals.
Well, technically the R's did compete, and cross the finish line first. But after the race was over, the D times for each lap kept mysteriously getting shorter, and finally their overall time was less than the R's. So they "won".
Twitter and Facebook flagged any posts about the race with "Races are secure and safe at the Olympics."
The D's then took the podium and knelt during the playing of "We Shall Overcome". They also granted themselves all the medals for all the events in the Olympics, all gold, to "resist white supremacy, capitalist oppression, and colonialism."
They then proceeded to riot and burn down the Olympic Village, after which they demanded reparations, as they were now "homeless".
Doug said...
Haven't watched the Olympics since my college days in the 70s. The entertainment industry ruined the once great competition. It all became about 'stories'about the athletes, not about performances. National pride became an embarrassing distraction to the networks. The beginnings of'woke'.
___________________________________________________
This ++++
I've been told that the Olympics are TV marketed in the US to RHardins' soap opera women. That's why there are endless "human interest" stories.
Crack, I'll put my money on Laremy Tunsil to win the smoke-off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5NQhI460I
Nothing is a "sport" where the winner is determined by some judge's opinion. Just saying.
There's a reason curling has become an Olympic fan favorite. I just can't think of the reason why. Or why I'm one of them.
Gary Larson has documented that George Washington was a break-dancer,
https://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000006643/Images/G-Washington2-1.jpeg
They could substantially improve the race and gender ratios if heats of neck-snapping and finger-pointing were added. Combined freestyle of neck-snapping, finger-pointing and rage following by random violence would be prime time viewing among the lefties.
- Krumhorn
Wilbur, completely agree with that. Television content and advertising are all directed at women and their concerns.
If you watch tv, pay attention to commercials for a couple of days. Do you ever see a woman pushing a baby carriage or with a baby in a snuggee?
I haven't watched the Olympics in YEARS for all the reasons that everyone else has stated.
In the other post I said that the Biathlon is my favorite winter Olympic sport. Skiing and Shooting. The Finnish in WWII were lethal and repelled the Russian Invasion
Laslo's "More urban and youthful: Chicago-style biathlon". And Todd's Speed walking with archery events have great promise. The viewership on those competitions would be incredible. THINK OF THE RATINGS!! and commercial revenue
Actually, Paintball wars between countries would be pretty cool too.
Sports are just preparatory events for the real real world 'events'. Honing skills that you need to survive. Running,strength,skills,flexibility,strategy.
Watch Irish Hurling. A 3000 year old game to see all of the above.
I would watch that!!
Just as taxing as the decathlon.
I prefer the Winter Olympics, especially downhill skiing.
The hazing of Nebraska's team will be BRUTAL.
The press corps in DC are obviously lobbying for competitive softball questioning to be added to the Olympics.
The best summer Olympic event is Women's pole vault. Women's swimming is a close second.
Breakdancing...Jesus! While they're at it, why don't they add a moving railroad car tagging competition?
France is also the country that views Jerry Lewis as an auteur genius.
And more irrelevant.
And my first thought is of Don Ameche and his movie, Cocoon, 1985. Second thought: Gonna skip the Olympics, except for Fencing.
Another event judged by judges.
Pathetic.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
Competitive hot dog eating never gets the international respect it deserves.
It has rules. Objective outcomes and standards.
They just need to give everyone in the subjective sports a participation trophy.
What are these "Olympics" you speak of??
Yeah, those ancient Greeks were all about 'Urban.'
'Urban' is just a polite name for 'Ghetto.'
The Olympics® is one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet along with FIFA®.
Shut it down.
"As sops to diversity go, this is not at all offensive, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to add it as a permanent event."
Not offensive?
Why not watermelon eating?
Menthol cigarette smoking?
Grape soda drinking?
Baseball caps with tags dangling wearing?
I vote for all of the above.
1. If the pandemic eases enough for Olympic Games, and b-boys are the price, fine.
2. Where do I apply for Official Cardboard Supplier?
The Olympics are fine as long as they take place abroad. Let the Nigerian princes fund an Olympic village in the jungles of Nigeria. Or Turkey host the Olympics somewhere in the Anatolian plateau, where water is scarce and the natives welcome all sexes and gender orientations.
If they want to increase interest in the Olympics, they should leave out all the boring cry stories they insert into the coverage. We want to watch people being excellent, not listen to why we should feel sorry for them.
Oh just go for broke and add 'The Knockout Game' as an Olympic event. Get the 'real feel' of the urban youth in the Olympics - it will be great, and very entertaining.
Also, what Freeman Hunt said. I watch sporting events to see people excell at something, not to hear what a hard, tragic life they had. More sports, less BS about the 'personal stories'.
Diversitism, sexism, and other class-based bigotry. Transgenderism, too? Why should trans/homosexuals compete with trans/intersexuals and trans/neosexuals? Will they hold a pride parade for transvestites, a socially divergent orientation?
Freeman laments: If they want to increase interest in the Olympics, they should leave out all the boring cry stories they insert into the coverage. We want to watch people being excellent, not listen to why we should feel sorry for them.
Amen to that, Freeman! The old 'Up Close and Personal' during the Olympics is as annoying and irrelevant as the player interviews during a major golf tournament. We tune in to see the game, not to hear the bleating of announcers in their 'special segments'.
Haven't watched the Olympics for several decades, not least because watching it on TV is all about listening to boring hosts talk, talk, talk and no action. Back when it was war between the USA and the USSR it was interesting news from the front.
Curious if anyone can justify the carbon cost of the Olympics? Adding events just adds to that cost.
F this. Need to start an original olympics movement
Only the original sports: track and field, wrestling, boxing, throw in the marathon and a substitute for chariot racing, maybe gymnastics for the women.
The modern Olympics have been experimenting since the beginning. Dueling pistols, deer shooting, and croquet anyone?
Qwinn,
I knew Western Civilization was collapsing when the "sport" of "Speed Walking" was added. The most pathetic "competition" I've ever seen in my life. It is exactly analogous to a competition to see who can whisper the loudest.
The comparison that comes to my mind is trotting. How do you get a horse to go as fast as it can without breaking into the obviously faster gait it has at its disposal? And what's the point? (Pacing is even weirder, as it's a completely artificial gait in the first place.)
Not certain if these are still in use as betting events, but they sure used to be. (Edit: Checked Wiki, and the Hambletonian is still run, even if it seems never to make the news these days.) But then I grew up not terribly far from the Meadowlands, and harness racing was a bigger deal round the NY/NJ border than it likely is elsewhere.
To everyone who said that a sport requiring judging isn't a proper sport: Agreed. Seriously, if you can't time it or measure it, it's already left the realm of sport, and the more "artistry" enters into the judgment, the farther afield it's strayed. Women's gymnastics, figure skating, ice dancing are particularly bad, as are such things as synchronized swimming. (Men's gymnastics, which is an entirely different sport from women's oddly seems less contaminated by this, possibly because so many of the moves rely on plain strength. Or maybe it has something to do with the way female gymnasts are major stars, and men's gymnasts are not. It couldn't just be that audiences are keen on watching tween girls making huge acrobatic runs and ending each with a charming little arched-back, spread-fingered pose, now could it?)
It's not a real sport and nobody has done it in thirty years.
But I'd lay off the "ghetto" stuff. A lot of American culture comes out of ghettos of one sort or another.
Curious if anyone can justify the carbon cost of the Olympics?
Prophecy of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming, rising oceans (threatening Obama et al seaside estates) notwithstanding, the Green blight finances/servces carbon offsets/indulgences.
PB said...
"How gangs fought for turf? That's complete BS. Did they think West Side Story was real?"
In a word, yes. The movie/play was the main reason why restrictive knife laws were passed in the 50s. There was such an outsize fear of gangs suddenly having a turf war in the middle of East Overshoe, Kansas, that the laws were passed. I was aghast when I found this out a while back, but then I stopped and thought about our current crop Karens and their shrieking and pearl clutching and I can see it easily happen.
Funny, after the 1984 Olympics in LA I pretty much gave up on the summertime versions. I had no interest in most of the sports whereas wintertime activities were more familiar. Guess that was just my slip of white privilege showing.
“Menthol cigarette smoking?” OK, but just Kool filter kings, right?
“Grape soda drinking?” Do you mean “purple drank”?
“Why not watermelon eating?” That’s just racist!
I would like to see free-style gymnastics. I have seen videos of guys (a few women too) doing crazy flips and cartwheels down a long stretch or on a high bar or even using props like low walls and fountains to flip off of. The current system has so many requirements that the performances all look alike, like modern cars.
"Perhaps to be totally Woke, to avoid cries of too many white people or too few whatever the latest disadvantaged group of the day is...everyone competes wrapped in giant Glad Garbage bags, or whole body condoms, with only their eyes visible. That way we won't know anything about the contestant."
Odds on, the latest disadvantaged group whatever the sport or subject of the day is black.
I'm fine with the addition of break dancing. Already has rhythmic gymnastics.
Really though, no more personal stories. They're what made me stop watching.
DBQ is quite right about hurling. The GAA all Ireland finals are the absolute pinnacle of sports. Croke Park. Nothing better. Flippin' Covid, if I can see it once more before I die...
The Olympics were made for a world that had fewer and slower media. You could hear the events on the radio or read about them in the papers the next day. When TV came in, and then cable and the internet, the temptation to fill up the news cycle with human interest stories was too great. Interest in the actual sports wasn't enough to support the expense of covering the games and cancelling other programming.
Can Morris Dancing be far behind? Browndog, the appeal of curling is obvious, a 'sport' which allows pleasant Canadians to drink beer and play with brooms on ice without wearing skates. An added bonus are the bowling shirts, which I imagine allow those guys and gals to drink free throughout the land.
I don't care what events are in the Olympics as the games stopped being legitimate when they stopped competing naked.
"Breakdancing – or breaking as it is known – evolved in New York in the 1960s and 70s as a way for rival street gangs to fight for turf."
Perfect. The Olympics becomes an 80's musical.
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