What new sports and events are there at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
THE 2024 Paris Olympics will feature new talents featuring in brand-new sports.
Breaking also known as breakdancing and kayak cross will debut at the Paris Games this summer.
And fans will see surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing return after their first appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The introduction of the new sports is to attract younger audiences as they are “closely associated with youth and reward creativity and athletic performance,” according to the official Paris 2024 website.
Meanwhile, some sports that featured in Tokyo 2020 did not make the cut in this summer’s games including baseball, softball and karate.
Here’s all you need about the new sports and events being featured at the Paris 2024 Summer Games.
Breaking to make Olympic debut
The sport of breaking will make its Olympic debut in Paris this summer.
In Paris there will be one men’s and one women’s event “where 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls will go face to face in spectacular solo battles,” according to the official Olympics website.
Dancers compete in one-to-one battles consisting of two 60-second throw-downs and three in the knockout phases.
Athletes will improvise to a DJ’s beats using popular breaking movies including windmills, which involve spinning low to the ground and freezes.
A DJ selects the music and decides which tracks will be played during the battle while breakers freestyle or improvise their routines.
They will take it in turns to show their moves and receive marks for technique, vocabulary (the variety of moves incorporated), execution, musicality and originality.
Instead of scoring each of these criteria, judges use a digital slider, sliding towards the breaker who is winning the head-to-head match-up.
Meaning if breaker A is performing better than breaker B, judges will move the slider towards their side.
There will be a host on the microphone and nine judges who vote at the end of each battle to decide the winner.
Each criterion equates to 20 per cent of the final score. Based on the average of the sliders in these five criteria, one breaker is named the winner of each round.
Breaking was first featured at the Youth Olympic Games in Bueno Aires in 2018.
But later this month in Paris will mark the first time the sport will star on the main Olympic stage.
The breaking competition is set for Aug. 9-10 and Team GB does not have any athletes participating.
Kayak cross
Canoeing traditionally has two forms of competition – sprint and slalom.
In the slalom category, the Paris 2024 Olympics will see a new style of competition called kayak cross.
Kayak cross will involve racing over white water and through obstacles.
Athletes will race each other instead of only competing against time, according to the Paris Olympics website.
A traditional slalom event takes over an hour however the kayak cross will take only 45 seconds.
The race will from a ramp above the water which will release the competitors and each athlete must complete the course that includes six gates downstream and two upstream.
Missing one of the gates will result in a disqualification.
Kayakers will also need to complete one kayak roll – a 360-degree flip into the water and back fully upright.
Reigning world champion GB’s Joe Clarke is the person to beat in Paris, according to Reuters.
He said: “It’s the head-to-head element that gets people on the edge of their seats.
“The feedback is instant, first across the line. You see people have a terrible start but go from fourth to first in an instant. Or first to fourth.”
