Japanese breakers on high despite sport's doubtful Olympic future

Thev 25-year-old Yuasa, aka B-girl Ami, expressed disappointment that a dance form pioneered by Black American youth in New York's Bronx borough would not feature at the next U.S.-based Olympics, but was nevertheless optimistic about its future direction.

Thank you! It was interesting, really liked the guys, but no guidelines once again, criteria’s or parameters nowhere in sight, not sure who did what and how it was supposed to be graded. Having danced most of my youth, and this was hard, even for me. New Yorkers started Breakdancing, but Popping, Locking, Krumbling all originated in Los Angeles, you put the two together and it’s just magic and it’s been like that literally from the beginning, both dance styles complement each other. It can be a visual competition where the audience or judges get to decide who is the better artist. But as an Olympic sport? They were just setting themselves up for failure it is not a competitive sport whatsoever.It had its run, very interesting though.

It's a really cringe sport. Lots of fake hype, and a really outdated dance culture. The people who are keen on this must've had an odd upbringing. I think only Asians and a few oddball Euro countries like this. Umm, time to move on. How about we bring JARTS into the Olympics? It's another 70s/80s fringe activity.

The Olympics really needs to quash the skateboarding and BMX, too. It's far too fringe and little kids are participating in what should be a young-adult to adult competition. Just weird.

Just make it stop already! Keep this "sport" on street corners and parks and maybe X Games, but please don't waste our time at the next Olympics, please!

How do the "breakers" qualify? Many, including the Aussie girl were really not very good. My local park has better on every weekend. And no, I am not exaggerating.

I propose speed painting as the next Olympic sport. We could give points on style, artistry, color and vibrancy maybe even flamboyancy. Men and women’s events and could even have teams and could be inclusive.We can have the art freestyle and the art set routines. We can set up different events eg nature art, human art, and abstract, we could also have the graffi class with spray paints. We could have speed rounds, marathon rounds. We can have different disciplines, eg oils, water colors(that’ll keep the dancing I water crowd happy) as well as pastels and pencil. Absolutely not a sport. It’s as though we’ve gamified everything now. Americas got talent meets The Olympics got Talent .

I am pretty sure golf DESERVES a spot at the Olympics!!!

I will complain about rich countries exclusivity until sepak tagraw is included in the Olympics.

gary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX90K41ecbU&t=15s

It was entertaining to watch, (the memes have been great!) but it should definitely not be an Olympic sport.

IOC keeps introducing more ‘sports’ because less and less people interested in it. In the end its just stupid waste of money and a chance for propaganda c-rap for dictator regimes like China etc.

I will complain about rich countries exclusivity until sepak tagraw is included in the Olympics.

I'm waiting for the sports of "Roshambo" myself, lol

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=roshambo

jforceToday  05:56 pm JST

It's a really cringe sport. Lots of fake hype, and a really outdated dance culture. The people who are keen on this must've had an ......"

Play nice......

I couldn't watch more than two minutes of it without feeling utter embarrassment for the performers (I won't say athletes). Man, this was bad!

Thanks for the heads up on Roshambo, lostune.

Another sport that I will never try.

But in the name of gender parity I am not sure that it would be acceptable in the Olympics..

gary

doubtful Olympic future

"Doubtful future"?

Break-dancing as an Olympic sport is currently having the last rites read, before life-support is unplugged.

The medals won will be among the rarest of the rare!

Last time I saw breakdancing was in the 80's as a kid. It sure has regressed since then.

Any "sport" which is subjective does not belong in the Olympics. Yes, breaking, figure skating, skateboarding, equestrian, synchronized swimming, snowboarding, diving, (and boxing to a certain extent) etc., are physically demanding, but the end result is left to people's own interpretation of what looks nice and what doesn't. There is too much room for ambiguity and bias.

I wonder if they will introduce T20 cricket one day. It's international, it's popular. I was surprised when they decided to introduce breaking.

I think it shows that "more", in terms of events, is not "better". The core competency of the Olympics should be athletics, the one time in four years many people will tune in to it, but its getting increasingly drowned out by other sports, some of which, like golf, have high-profile competitions galore and do not need any more exposure. The lower the exposure you give athletics, the bigger a white elephant your Olympic Stadium will become.

fwiw, I think skateboarding has actually been a success because the judging has managed to give medals to the best competitors, and the competitors have competed in a manner that is almost the epitome of the "Olympic spirit", egging each other on in a refreshingly friendly and sporting manner. This contrasts strongly with swimming, where competitors have openly blanked each other and made open insinuations about doping.

My vote for stupidest event goes for the climbing one where they run up an easy wall in four seconds. This is not much of a spectacle and does not approximate to any real world climbing skill worthy of mention. I thought it looked like something off a game show.

Bring back the tug-of-war! Seriously, it used to be an Olympic event. About breaking though, some of the performances were demonstrations of sheer athleticism. Shigekix vs Philwizard was an absolute treat to watch! I understand why some people don't like the event, but I'd rather watch some amateurs than millionaire NBA players competing for more accolades. Olympics should be about YOUTH and not 30 and 40+ basketball players. I'm especially talking about the WNBA. I'm still bitter they left Clark off the squad. I know, she is pro too.

I wonder if they will introduce T20 cricket one day. It's international, it's popular. I was surprised when they decided to introduce breaking.

Wonder no more! It's in the LA Olympics in a mere 48 months time.

It's going to be brilliant as long as the pitches are well prepped, which I have no doubt they will be.

Wow, I just watched some of the male breakdancers. While I agree with some that the subjectiveness isn’t as clean as a defined winner, nevertheless it’s an impressive level of athletic skill and strength.

It’s an impressive level of athletic skill and strength.

Ballet is a far more demanding activity from the athletic point of view, yet we don't want it to become an Olympic sport now, do we?

Ballet is a far more demanding activity from the athletic point of view,

Not to denigrate ballet - it’s impressive but is it more demanding? Hard to qualify as they are different movements.

yet we don't want it to become an Olympic sport now, do we?

Rhythmic gymnastics is pretty close, and it’s been a sport for years. I’m not an Olympic purist, I don’t get my panties in a bunch about different sports being tried at the Olympics. Some will hit, some won’t. I’d like to see skateboarding again myself.

I’m sad to hear boxing isn’t scheduled for 2028 though.

I’m sad to hear boxing isn’t scheduled for 2028 though.

There are "behind closed doors" discussions ongoing.... Boxing is more likely to be on in 2028 than not. Though this years scoring was as corrupt/inept as ever.

StrangerlandToday 12:40 am JST

I’m sad to hear boxing isn’t scheduled for 2028 though.

I'm sure its not through any malice: it is tough to get baseball/softball/cricket on the program with the different numbers of teams available for each and the requirement to balance men and women.

There is No Place for this thing at an Olympics.

How are the dancers being judged? What determines scoring I could not understand the rules

Japan media can be harsh (but also rather humorous).

In the link below, they compare the outfit of Australian b-girl Raygun to the Kuro Neko Yamato delivery uniforms, with photos.

They certainly are similar!

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/amp/2408/10/news085.html