(ThyBlackMan.com) In a year that has been unique and challenging for numbers of people across the Earth, it is so 2020 that The International Olympic Committee would provide a measure of lighthearted but real sports news earlier this month. During the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, breakdancing will be an official Olympic sport. According to the IOC, the “sport concept has been expanded, showcasing youth-focused events that are inclusive, engaging and can be practised outside conventional arenas.” Along with breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing will be new Olympic sports in 2024. To the IOC’s credit, breakdancing will be officially called “breaking” when it comes to Olympic competition to pay homage to the history of the skill.
Breakdancing is the mainstream term for “breaking” and “b-boying” that originated as one of the art forms from the birth of Hip-Hop in New York in the 1970s by Black and Latinx youth. It grew as an authentic form of dance in the streets and got more mainstream as Hip-Hop was unearthed as creative entertainment and became commercialized. While there might be some understandable hesitation that the beauty of breaking and b-boying would become an Olympic sport run by rich white people who know nothing about it, there is an opportunity for it to shine at the world stage of the Olympics if the right people are in place and part of the sport’s first Olympic appearance. There are still little details about how the scoring system for Olympic breakdancing and the competition would go but if it had judges similar to other Olympic sports, like boxing or gymnastics, here are some names, for various reasons, who should be on the list (in no particular order):
–DJ Kool Herc (Hip-Hop pioneer)– The history of Hip-Hop owes a lot to this Jamaican DJ from the Bronx. He is widely considered a true pioneer of creating the foundations of Hip-Hop through extending an “instrumental beat (breaking or scratching) to let people dance longer (break dancing) and began MC’ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing”. This is arguably the number one person that the International Olympic Committee should get, not only to judge but to run the format of the entire Olympic breakdancing event.
– Richard “Crazy Legs” Colón (b-boy legend)- “Crazy Legs” is the president of the Rock Steady Crew, the most historic b-boy crew of all-time. “Crazy Legs” is the most well known and visible member of the Rock Steady Crew and has big-time credentials.
–Damita Jo (The First Lady of Locking)- When you are known as the First Lady of Locking, that is big. It is important to have female pioneers in male-dominated fields and Damita Jo is a true pioneer with significant choreography experience.
– Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers and Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quiñones (Breakin’ movie series)- Both of these gentlemen are both known as “Turbo” and “Ozone”, respectively, from the cult movies, Breakin’ and its sequel Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. People might not know that the movie Breakin’ is among the Turner Classic Movies. The moves and funny dialogue of both “Turbo” and “Ozone” in the movies endeared them to plenty of young Black and Latinx kids during the 1980s. They deserve spots as judges and don’t need brooms as judges either.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines
