New Olympic sports and events at the 2024 Paris Games

Breaking — or breakdancing — has grown from its beginnings at block parties in the Bronx in the 1970s 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 modified events, and a quartet of other nontraditional sports are returning for their second Olympics.

Read more: How to watch the 2024 Olympic Games

Here’s what you need to know about the new sports and events for the 2024 Games, which start in Paris on Friday.

Breaking makes debut

Breaking has evolved over the decades from a dance party to a competitive sport contested around the world, but the 2024 Paris Games will mark the first time breakdancers will compete for Olympic gold. And it may be a while before we see it again at the Olympics.

Breaking was approved for the 2024 Olympics, but did not make it to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, meaning the tournament would not return to the Olympic stage until 2032 in Brisbane.

Sixteen men and 16 women — known as B-Boys and B-Girls — will compete in the break, with separate one-day matches for each. The women will compete on August 9 and the men on August 10. The competition will consist of one-on-one matches. Each match is a best-of-three match that begins with a round robin before moving to knockout rounds for the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches.

Similar to gymnastics or ice skating at the Winter Olympics, competitors are judged on a variety of criteria that blend artistic expression with athletic strength and grace. A breaker’s dance moves are judged on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity, and musicality.

Unlike gymnasts and skaters, who follow a carefully planned routine to music of their own choosing, breakers don’t know in advance what music they’ll be using for their routine. This places the emphasis on improvisation based on the DJ’s tracks. (Not only will we see our first Olympic gold medals being awarded during the break, but we’ll also see DJs leave the Games and call themselves Olympic DJs for the rest of their lives.)

True to its roots, the groundbreaking competition will not take place in a stadium, but on a public square – Place de la Concorde – in the heart of Paris, alongside skateboarding, BMX freestyle and 3×3 basketball.

New sport returns

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

Surf

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

Skateboarding

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

Sport climbing

Sport climbing returns for a second Olympic Games and will now feature two events for men and women: a bouldering and lead combined event and a speed event. The speed finals will take place on August 7-8, while the bouldering and lead combined finals will take place on August 9-10.

3×3 basketball

Not all basketball is played on a full court, as evidenced by the 3×3 basketball competition that debuted in Tokyo four years ago. Former BYU star Jimmer Fredette will lead the U.S. men’s team, which will be seeking its first 3×3 half-court gold after failing to qualify for the Tokyo Games. Meanwhile, the women’s team will be looking to repeat its gold medal. The 3×3 competitions begin July 30, with the men’s and women’s finals on August 5 at Place de La Concorde.

New events to keep an eye on

What if you took the unpredictability of snowboardcross and crossed it with a canoe slalom course? We’ll find out when kayakcross makes its debut in Paris. It’s one of a handful of new events added to a number of established Olympic sports.

Kayak crossing

In kayak cross, four kayakers race against each other as they navigate through six downstream gates and two upstream gates. It’s the first time in canoe slalom that athletes are racing against each other instead of just the clock. I imagine hitting your opponents with your paddle is against the rules.

Artistic swimming

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

Athletics

Minor adjustment to the athletics programme: the marathon mixed relay race walking event will continue, and the men’s 50 km race walking event has been cancelled.

Boxing

A new weight class for women has been added and a weight class for men has been removed. In total there are now seven weight classes for men and six for women.