Breakdancing moves a step closer to 2024 Paris Olympics inclusion
Last Updated: 25/06/19 7:12pm
Breakdancing has moved a step closer to being included in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
International Olympic Committee members have formally endorsed requests from Paris in February and their executive board in March to provisionally add breakdancing to the program, pending a final decision in December 2020.
Paris wants to add four sports to its program, though the other three - skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing - will make Olympic debuts in Tokyo next year.
The two other sports added to the 2020 programme by the Japanese, baseball/softball and karate, have been dropped by the French.
Squash was the other sport in contention for a place in the 2024 schedule but was not chosen.
Breakdancing was part of the Youth Olympic Games programme in 2018 and will feature in the inaugural World Urban Games in Budapest in September.
In a statement, IOC president Thomas Bach said the four sports proposed by Paris 2024 are "totally in line" with his 'Olympic Agenda 2020' plan for making the Games more diverse, urban and appealing to younger audiences.
Organisers are now searching for a venue to stage the breakdancing events.
Tony Estanguet, the Paris 2024 president, said: "It's important for us to put sports out of the stadiums and in the heart of the city."
Breakdancing will have 16 competitors in each of the men's and women's events.
