What are the new sports and events at the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Paris is ready for the Olympics with a rich history across many traditional sports. Events like the marathon embody that — there’s been a marathon at each Olympics since the first modern Games in Athens in 1896.
Tokyo 2020, which eventually took place in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, welcomed three new sports to the Olympic family.
Here’s what you need to know about everything that’s new at this year’s Olympics
Breaking’s first appearance at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Breaking, commonly known as breakdancing, will be included at the Olympics for the first time in Paris.
Breaking is a dance style that originated in the Bronx in the 1970s. Over time, it has transformed into a competitive sport with international events, a robust judging system, and world championships.
Breaking debuted at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires and was chosen for Paris 2024 as a new sport. It will not return for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, but breaking is set for its moment in Paris.
16 men and 16 women (known as "B-Boys" and "B-Girls") will compete at the Olympics, with a round robin followed by quarterfinals, semifinals and medal battles. Each battle features a best-of-three one-on-one contest of approximately one minute. Once a breaker completes their round, their opponent immediately begins their battle routine.
There is no pause between each dance and when both are complete, a panel of nine judges score the B-boys and B-girls on six criteria: creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. There is extra emphasis on performativity and creativity (60%), while the other categories combine for 40%.
Breaking is unique in that the B-Girls and B-Boys don’t know the music ahead of time — they must improvise their moves to the beat.
Victor Montalvo, a renowned U.S. star, is widely considered the gold medal favorite in the men's event. American fellow Jeffrey Louis, also known as B-Boy Jeffro, qualified for the Games in June and is considered a potential gold medal-winner. Other names to watch in Paris include Canada’s Philip Kim (B-Boy Phil Wizard), Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai (B-Boy Shigekix) and France’s Danis Civil (B-Boy Dany), who won the 2022 European title.
In the women’s competition, American Sunny Choi (B-Girl Sunny) became the first U.S. woman to qualify for the Olympic Games. Logan Edra (B-Girl Logistx) will join her in Paris and likely contend for a medal. Lithuania’s Dominika Banevic (B-Girl Nicka) won the 2023 world title and will be just 17 in Paris, but could win gold.
Surfing's second Olympics, but not in Paris
Surfing made its Olympic debut in Tokyo, but it won’t come to Paris. Instead, surfing at the 2024 Olympics will take place over 9,000 miles from the French Capital in Teahupo’o, located on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
The island is known for its beautiful environment to surf with heavy and challenging waves on offer for the likes of Brazil’s Italo Ferreira, the defending men's champion from Tokyo, and reigning women's champion Carissa Moore from Team USA.
The 2024 slate will run from July 27 to August 4, with the medal events taking place on July 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.
Skateboarding is back
Like surfing, Skateboarding first appeared on the Olympic stage in Tokyo and is set to return for the Paris Games. Japan dominated on debut in Tokyo, winning three out of four possible gold medals, with notable performances from Sakura Yosozumi, Yuto Horigome, and Momiji Nishiya. Australia won one gold courtesy Keegan Palmer.
The event schedule for the Paris Olympics mirrors that of Tokyo, with four events — men’s and women’s street and men’s and women’s park — taking place at Place de La Concorde.
The street finals are on 27-28 July and the park finals take place 6-7 August.
Sport climbing returns - but with a twist
Sport climbing’s first Olympic Games also came in Tokyo, with Spain’s Alberto Ginés López and Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret winning gold medals.
Paris will see the total number of athletes spike from 40 to 68 as the competition is divided into two events. From one combined event, Paris will deliver bouldering and a lead combined event in addition to the speed event.
In the speed event, athletes will climb side-by-side up a 15-meter wall, racing for time. The combined event leans on technique rather than just speed, with points handed out for certain moves.
In bouldering, athletes are presented with multiple walls and must reach the finish point of as many of them as possible within the time allotted. Athletes can lose points for unsuccessful attempts, but there is no limit to the amount of attempts per wall within the time limit.
In lead, the objective is to reach the highest point on the wall within a six-minute timeframe. The higher the athlete goes, the more points they are awarded. But they are only permitted one attempt. The maximum score in each bouldering and lead is 100, for a combined possibility of 200 points.
The speed finals will take place on August 7 and 8, while the bouldering and lead combined medals are awarded on August 9 and 10.
3x3 basketball returns
While basketball has been played at the Olympics consistently since the 1936 Games, 3x3 basketball just made its first appearance in Tokyo. At the Tokyo Games, Latvia won gold in the men’s competition, and the United States earned gold on the women’s side.
In Paris 2024, both the men’s and women’s events are back, with respective finals on August 5 at Place de La Concorde. Jimmer Fredette is set to lead the U.S. men's lineup, which will look to unseat Latvia.
The U.S. leads the FIBA World Rankings in men's basketball, trailing Serbia, while China leads in women's basketball, with the U.S. and France closely following.
Kayak cross first-ever appearance at the Paris Games
The kayak cross event, under the canoe slalom umbrella, is set to make its Olympic debut in Paris. There are four athletes racing against each other from a ramp above the water. They traverse a course featuring up to six downstream gates and two upstream gates in a thrilling showdown.
This is the first time canoe slalom has an Olympic event where athletes race against each other and not the clock in a time trial scenario.
Joe Clarke and Kimberley Woods, both of Great Britain, are reigning world champions in kayak cross. Clarke has actually won three straight titles on the men's side. Australia's Jessica Fox is also a strong contender in the women's field. She won the world titles in both 2021 and 2022 and is a strong favorite to earn a medal at the Olympics.
Other changes at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Artistic Swimming - For the first time in Olympic history, men are included in the artistic swimming competition. Artistic swimming is also set to introduce a team acrobatic routine round, which will debut in Paris.
Boxing - A new weight class has been introduced for women, while a men's class has been reduced. There are now seven men’s weight categories, and six for the women.
Sailing - Two kite events have been added to the Olympic sailing schedule. In addition, the boats used have been modified, now comprising two mixed boats and four boats for each gender, resulting in a total of 10 events.
Shooting - The mixed skeet team event has been replaced by the mixed team trap event in shooting.
Track and Field - The marathon race walk mixed relay is an addition to athletics, replacing the men’s 50km race walk.
Also in track and field, a repechage round has been added for all races (including hurdles) between 200m and 1500m. Here’s how it works : The process involves athletes who fail to qualify in the preliminary rounds having a second chance to qualify for the semifinals through repechage heats. This is colloquially known as the “lucky losers” format.
Volleyball - During previous Olympics, the men’s and women’s volleyball fields of 12 teams had been split into two pools of six, with each team playing five matches total in the pool phase. However at the Paris Games, teams will be separated into three pools of four, with each team playing only three matches total in the pool phase.
Weightlifting - The number of weight classes has been reduced from 14 to 10.
Cover Credits - Paris 2024
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