Sports balls

[killamajig]

Yo, this sounds fresh!

https://olympics.com/en/news/breaking-paris-2024-faq

What is breaking?
Breaking is more commonly known as breakdancing, whose roots can be traced to Bronx, New York, in the 1970s as part of hip-hop culture, characterised by a combination of athletic moves including spins, flips and other complex techniques. International competitiions began in the 1990s.

The word "breaking" refers to the instrumental breaks in music usually accompanied beats.

Is it a sport?
Yes, you bet.

Breaking is recognised as an urban sport just like skateboarding and sport climbing, inspired by various dance styles demanding athleticism and coordination.

A breaking game or match is called a "battle". The athletes are referred to as B-Boys and B-Girls.

Dancers face off in one-on-one battles navigated by a master of ceremonies to music randomly played by a DJ.

How will breaking be organised at Paris 2024?
The inaugural Olympic competition will take place on 9 and 10 August at Place de la Concorde where 16 B-Boys and B-Girls each are entered. The women compete on the first day, the men on the second.

Each day starts with a round-robin phase consisting of four groups of four. The top two in each group advances to the quarter-finals followed by the semi-finals and battles for medals.

All that in about five hours. Did we mention breaking is a sport?

How did the 32 athletes qualify for Paris 2024?
France was granted two host quotas (one per gender) while four Universality places (two per gender) were on offer.

The remaining 26 were selected through last year’s world championships, the respective continental Games (Africa, Asia, Europe, Pan Am and Oceania) and the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) held in Shanghai and Budapest in May and June, respectively.

To be eligible for a Universality place, athletes needed to compete in OQS and finish in the top 24 of the final rankings.

How will breaking be scored at the Olympic Games? Who wins a battle?
Judges score the breakers based on five categories - musicality, vocabulary, originality, technique and execution. Each category makes up 20 per cent of the score.

Battles are best-of-three rounds, also known as throwdowns. Each breaker has 60 seconds to complete a routine in a throwdown.

Athletes can be penalised for misbehaviour.

Remember B-Boys and Girls competition will take place on 9 and 10 August.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

I won't be watching until there's a non-binary catagory.