As the world eagerly anticipates the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the spirit of unity and global camaraderie is more palpable than ever. Paris, often dubbed the City of Light, will shine even brighter as it welcomes athletes, spectators, and enthusiasts from every corner of the globe. This monumental event is not just a showcase of athletic prowess but a celebration of humanity’s collective spirit and determination.

Millions of spectators will attend in person, filling 35 venues in and around Paris, while 10,500 athletes from over 200 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team will compete in 329 events over 19 days.

This edition of the Olympics, the XXXIII Olympiad, will feature 36 sports, including four additional ones introduced to enhance the programmer and engage youth.

The Paris 2024 Olympics will feature several new + newish sports: breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing, and 3×3 basketball. Breaking (aka breakdancing) is making its Olympic debut after a resounding success in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Breaking, or Breakdancing:

Breaking, also known as breakdancing, will make its Olympic debut at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. This event reflects the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) initiative to include more youth-oriented and urban sports, making the Olympics more appealing to younger audiences.

Competitions:

 The breaking event will feature one-on-one battles, where athletes, known as B-boys and B-girls, compete against each other . Sixteen men and 16 women — known as B-Boys and B-Girls — will compete in breaking, with separate one-day competitions for each. The women will compete on Aug. 9 and the men on Aug. 10. The competition consists of one-on-one battles. Each battle is a best-of-three contest starting with a round robin before moving to the knockout rounds for the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal battles.

Similar to gymnastics or ice skating in the winter Olympics, contestants will be judged by varied criteria that’s a mix of artistic expression and athletic power and grace. A breaker’s dance moves will be judged for creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality.

Judging Criteria: Performances will be evaluated based on a combination of technique, style, creativity, and musicality. Judges will look at elements like power moves, and freezes.

Spectacular Show: With its dynamic and acrobatic moves, breaking is expected to be one of the most visually exciting and crowd-pleasing events at the Paris Olympics.

Inspiration: The inclusion of breaking in the Olympics will inspire a new generation of dancers and bring greater recognition to the art form.

Breaking at the 2024 Paris Olympics is a significant milestone for the sport, highlighting its evolution from street dance to a globally recognized competitive event.

Surfing

Surfing, having debuted in Tokyo, will continue at Paris 2024. but will take place in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, known for its challenging waves, from July 27 to August 4.

Surfing is back at the Olympics, but you won’t see any surfers hanging out in the Olympic village. The Olympic surfers will be catching waves more than 9,000 miles away from Paris in Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Skateboarding

Skateboarding will take place at Place de La Concorde and will feature separate street and park events for the men and women. Skate boarding’s street finals take place on July 27 and 28, with park finals following on Aug. 6 and 7.

Sport climbing

Sport Climbing returns for a second Olympics and will now feature two events for the men and women: a bouldering and lead combined event and a speed event. The speed finals take place on Aug. 7 and 8, and the bouldering and lead combined finals take place on Aug. 9 and 10.

3×3 basketball

Not all basketball is played at full court, as proven by the 3×3 basketball competition that was first played four years ago in Tokyo. Former BYU star Jimmer Fredette leads the men’s US squad, who will be looking for its first 3×3 half-court gold after failing to qualify for the Tokyo games. Meanwhile, the women’s team will look to repeat at gold medal champions. The 3×3 competitions start on July 30 with men’s and women’s finals set for Aug. 5 at Place de La Concorde.

New events :

What if you took the unpredictability of snowboard cross and crossed it with a canoe slalom course? We are about to find out when kayak cross makes its debut in Paris. It’s one of a handful of new events added to some established Olympic sports.

Kayak cross

In kayak cross, four kayakers will race against one another as they navigate six downstream gates and two upstream gates. It’ll be the first time in canoe slalom in which athletes race against each other instead of just the clock. I’d have to imagine whacking your opponents with your paddle is against the rules.

Artistic swimming

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

Track and field

Slight tweak to the track and field lineup: An event called the marathon race walk mixed relay is in, and the men’s 50km race walk is out.

Boxing

A new women’s weight class has been added, and a men’s weight class has been cut, to bring the total to seven weight classes for the men and six for the women.