Breaking at the 2024 Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Breaking at the Games of the Olympiad
Venue	Place de la Concorde
Dates	9–10 August 2024
No. of events	2 (1 men, 1 women)
Competitors	33 from 16 nations

Breakdancing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics ran from 9 to 10 August at Place de la Concorde, marking the sport's official debut in the program and the first dancesport discipline to appear in Summer Olympic history. Following its successful debut at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, breaking was confirmed as one of the three additional sports, along with sport climbing and surfing approved for Paris 2024. The competition saw a total of thirty-three breakers (sixteen B-Boys and seventeen B-Girls) stage in face-to-face single battles.

Competition format

The breaking competition will comprise two gender-based medal events (one for men and the other for women) where sixteen B-Boys and sixteen B-Girls will compete against each other.

The competition begins with a round robin stage. The 16 breakers are split in four groups and dance against the others in their group for a minute each. The two best breakers from each group progress to the knockout stage, where breakers are eliminated from the competition after losing a one-on-one match.

Scoring

The winner is determined by a panel of judges, who score each performance based on five criteria each worth a fifth of the point maximum. The criteria are:

• Technique: The correct execution of moves, as well as athleticism, body control, dynamics, space control, form, lines and shape.
• Vocabulary: The number and variety of moves. A high score requires a diverse set of moves in multiple positions. Moves are grouped into toprock (dance elements executed while standing), downrock (spinning on the floor, combined with footwork, drops and transitions) and freeze (a stop in an acrobatic position).
• Execution: The clean performance of moves, and the distinction of moves from one another so that they flow, but not blend, into another.
• Musicality: How well the breaker reacts to and expresses the music, which is provided by a tournament staff DJ and not known to the breakers before the match.
• Originality: How the breaker "wows" the audience by making the dance their own.

Qualification

A total of 32 quota places (sixteen each for B-Girls and B-Boys) are available for eligible dancers to compete for the inaugural medals in breaking. NOCs can enter a maximum of four breakers (two per gender) across two medal events.

Over eighty percent of the total quota is attributed to a large number of breakers through a tripartite qualification route. First, the 2023 WDSF World Championships, scheduled for 23 to 24 September in Leuven, Belgium, awarded the B-Boy and B-Girl champion with a direct quota place for Paris 2024. Second, a quintet of spots will be assigned to the highest-ranked eligible breakers (one B-Boy and one B-Girl) competing in each of the designated continental meets (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania), respecting the two-member NOC limit. The remaining breakers will provide the final opportunity to book their slots for Paris 2024 through a four-month-long Olympic Qualifier Series, held between March and June 2024 in various locations worldwide.

The host nation France reserves a spot each for a B-Boy and a B-Girl in their respective breaking events, while four more places (two per gender) are entitled to the eligible NOCs interested to have their breakers compete for Paris 2024 through a Universality invitation. To be registered for a spot according to the criteria of the universality principle, breakers must finish within the top 32 of their respective events in the final rankings of the four-month-long Olympic Qualifier Series.

Competition schedule

Medal summary

Medal table

  *   Host nation (France)

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada	1	0	0	1
	Japan	1	0	0	1
3	France*	0	1	0	1
	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
5	China	0	0	1	1
	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		2	2	2	6

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
B-Boys details	Philip Kim Phil Wizard  Canada	Danis Civil Dany Dann  France	Victor Montalvo Victor  United States
B-Girls details	Ami Yuasa Ami  Japan	Dominika Banevič Nicka  Lithuania	Liu Qingyi 671  China

See also

In Spanish: Break dance en los Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024 para niños

• Breaking at the 2023 Pan American Games