GDT: OLYMPICS - PARIS 2024

[MS]

There's definitely an objection to be made to "urban culture" glorifying selling drugs and killing people, if you do it very carefully. But I'd say B-boy stuff is far enough from this that it's not hard to realize their relationship is fairly distant and literary. To me, it's more ridiculous than anything else. In the championship round or whatever one of the competitors flashed his abs then gave a little provocative shrug at his opponent. That's artistic expression, and the shitty kind. It's not sports.

I just generally don't think any sort of dancing is an Olympic sport. There was some rumblings about ballroom dancing getting into the Olympics a few years ago and I don't think that's a sport, I wouldn't think country line dancing is a sport, and I don't think breakdancing is a sport. And I also think the gymnastics event where they wave the ribbon around is extremely suspect as a sport.

But at least ballroom dancing has an aura of seriousness. Between things like what you're referencing and the commentating and the insanity of the Australian woman, breakdancing just came off as silly and weird.

And, again, I'm all for sports that try to be inclusive of urban culture. Having skateboarding in the Olympics is great and the American/Canadian competitors in particular were clearly from a different demographic than most Olympians and made for cool/different role models for kids from different backgrounds.

 

[God]

I thought breaking was fine. I don't really understand it, and the Raygun meme made it look really stupid because she was terrible at it, but a lot of the moves required for breaking require quite a lot of core strength and looked like a mix of pommel horse and the floor exercise.

Like, synchronized swimming has been in the Olympics forever. Whatever.

 

[Nucker101]

I don't think it's as black/white as "you don't respect break dancing or think it's difficult if you think it shouldn't be in the Olympics" or some sort of anti-urban cultural thing. You can still respect the culture and break dancing but disagree with it being an Olympic sport. I'm not even mad about it, I found it entertaining, especially the earlier rounds lol, some great meme material, but probably not entertaining for the reasons that the Olympics wants.

The commentators didn't help at all though when it came to establishing it a serious Olympic event, definitely gave off WWE commentary vibes.


It's cool to see the local guy win it though, happy for him.

Edit: and yes I feel the same way about synchronized swimming but I'm not mad about it.

 

[EpochLink]

I don't think it's as black/white as "you don't respect break dancing or think it's difficult if you think it shouldn't be in the Olympics" or some sort of anti-urban cultural thing. You can still respect the culture and break dancing but disagree with it being an Olympic sport. I'm not even mad about it, I found it entertaining, especially the earlier rounds lol, some great meme material, but probably not entertaining for the reasons that the Olympics wants.

The commentators didn't help at all though when it came to establishing it a serious Olympic event, definitely gave off WWE commentary vibes.


It's cool to see the local guy win it though, happy for him.

Edit: and yes I feel the same way about synchronized swimming but I'm not mad about it.

Now you are invited to the cookout.

 

[credulous]

I just generally don't think any sort of dancing is an Olympic sport. There was some rumblings about ballroom dancing getting into the Olympics a few years ago and I don't think that's a sport, I wouldn't think country line dancing is a sport, and I don't think breakdancing is a sport. And I also think the gymnastics event where they wave the ribbon around is extremely suspect as a sport.

i mean they have canoe cross in the olympics. all sports beyond like archery and some of the athletics events are pretty silly. how is whacking a rubber disc while wearing knives on your feet any less serious than break dancing or jumping into the water while doing flips in time with a partner?

 

[EpochLink]

i mean they have canoe cross in the olympics. all sports beyond like archery and some of the athletics events are pretty silly. how is whacking a rubber disc while wearing knives on your feet any less serious than break dancing or jumping into the water while doing flips in time with a partner?

Thank you! Exactly!
Break dancing ain’t do different than shooting a f***ing disc, or jumping over poles with a horse.

Takes skill and effort for people to work on their craft, people who dismiss break dancing cause it’s silly are dismissive.

Be in those shoes and tell us how it feels.

Audacity on some of these ******

 

[Canuckle1970]

I thought breaking was fine. I don't really understand it, and the Raygun meme made it look really stupid because she was terrible at it, but a lot of the moves required for breaking require quite a lot of core strength and looked like a mix of pommel horse and the floor exercise.

Like, synchronized swimming has been in the Olympics forever. Whatever.

This pretty much sums it up for me. And as an event, I admit I didn't watch it until I heard this guy from Vancouver won the gold, lol. Happy for him.

 

[tantalum]

I have no issue with the olympics adding/cutting sports. Every sport requires different mixes of skill, mental fortitude and athletic prowess. Breaking is no different. Some may not consider it a sport for many reasons just as other events aren't considered sports by people.

Where they went wrong is allowing an association that has nothing to do with the sport (the ballroom dancing folks) to bring it to the Olympics. There was no love for the sport by the organizers and it showed. And that's a real problem when you are showcasing something. It was only made worse by the broadcasters spending exactly 0 minutes on explaining how the "scoring" worked. And really, the judging appeared to be personal opinion on who someone liked more. To me it really harkened back the issues figure skating had before completely revamping that scoring system.

When a decades-long campaign by the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) to get ballroom dancing into the Games kept failing because it was too “outdated”, the WDSF served up breaking as a youthful alternative. But no one asked the breakers. Some fought the Olympification of their art, others were persuaded by what the Games could do for it. Their views were moot. The Olympic movement is so big, it mows down everything in its path.

Suddenly, b-boys and b-girls were scrambling to set up qualifiers and federations. In Australia, accomplished breakers had to become sporting officials. While Olympic breaker Rachael Gunn, PhD, became an athlete, her breaker husband became a coach. Another top dancer, Lowe Naplan, became an administrator. “The only reason I did it was because no one else would do it,” he said. “I never really thought of [breaking] as a sport … it will always be a culture and an art form first.”

The sport dragged into the Olympics without its consent

Dance sport bosses wanted ballroom in the Olympics. They were told to deliver breaking instead. The only problem: no one asked the breakers.

www.smh.com.au

Not sure I agree it is just a culture or art form first therefore not a sport. Most sports spring from that foundation I think. But it sums up the issue from the get go.

Based on what was delivered it has no business being in the 2032 Olympics (it will not be included in 2028). I don't think it had to be that way. I think it had real promise but the idea was broken from the get go because exactly the wrong people were the ones pushing for it.

 

[bandwagonesque]

I just generally don't think any sort of dancing is an Olympic sport. There was some rumblings about ballroom dancing getting into the Olympics a few years ago and I don't think that's a sport, I wouldn't think country line dancing is a sport, and I don't think breakdancing is a sport. And I also think the gymnastics event where they wave the ribbon around is extremely suspect as a sport.

Yeah, I agree with all of this. The definitions of stuff can shift over time, but I feel like someone from the 19th century could agree skateboarding is a sport if they watched it for ten minutes.

But at least ballroom dancing has an aura of seriousness. Between things like what you're referencing and the commentating and the insanity of the Australian woman, breakdancing just came off as silly and weird.

The fact that she's an academic doing a PhD on B-boy/B-girl culture kind of cements for me that this was not an athletic endeavour for her. She looked like Homer Simpson trying to read the writing on the back of his head.

 

[bandwagonesque]

A lot of people on Twitter captioned video clips of her routine, and this is my favourite by far:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821943235721220312

 

[racerjoe]

I think a lot of people have hit on some key points.

Personally I don't like sports that are purely judged... like I think many are sports, and need incredible athleticism. However if you have to use judges to score... it just becomes too subjective.

And I get the response to that, that many sports have judges as referees, but I think there is a large difference there, in one decides rules while the other actually scores the event.

I do like watching dance though. This wasn't my favourite dance contest, which sucks for them, as you would want to put your best foot forward.

 

[RandV]

Thank you! Exactly!
Break dancing ain’t do different than shooting a f***ing disc, or jumping over poles with a horse.

Takes skill and effort for people to work on their craft, people who dismiss break dancing cause it’s silly are dismissive.

Be in those shoes and tell us how it feels.

Audacity on some of these ******

I haven't complained about it but I think in general for an Olympic sport you need both some type of a quantifiable measuring system and qualifying legitimacy.

If it's something you directly measure then that's easy. Typically for scoring that is more subjective like say diving the score is based on a combination of the difficulty of what the athlete is attempting - known ahead of time, and how well they technically achieve it.

This BBoy/BGirl stuff seems weird because its a direct 1 on 1 competition with I'm assuming no set routine and judging based largely on feels. And maybe there's some grand organizing event for these competitions to send the best to the Olympics but its not something anyone's really heard of and you see someone like that Australian and it just seems kind amateurish.

What I really want to get to though which popped into mind when I saw that mention of "Canoe Cross", as a proud Canadian I demand that Portaging become an Olympic event!

 

[tradervik]

Kayak cross has a lot of similarities with snowboard and ski cross: bumper cars on a white water course instead of snow. In cycling you have “kierin”, which also has a big potential for collisions and wipeouts. Is there a trend here? If we really need events with horses, maybe they can bring back jousting.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

- nevermind -

 

[Javaman]

I'm glad Canada got a gold, but breaking should not be an Olympic sport. Felt this way before the games, still feel this way after the games. Raygun and Phil Wizard have had an equal impact on my thinking.

Now, if we can just bring ourselves to also eliminate skateboarding from the Olympics, I can get back to criticizing the other judged sports I dislike, such as gymnastics and diving.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I think a lot of people have hit on some key points.

Personally I don't like sports that are purely judged... like I think many are sports, and need incredible athleticism. However if you have to use judges to score... it just becomes too subjective.

And I get the response to that, that many sports have judges as referees, but I think there is a large difference there, in one decides rules while the other actually scores the event.

I do like watching dance though. This wasn't my favourite dance contest, which sucks for them, as you would want to put your best foot forward.

screw having a summer and winter olympics

i want an objective sports olympics alternating every two years with a subjective sports olympics

figure skating, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, diving, skateboarding, ski jumping, halfpipe, and yes breakdancing

 

[lawrence]

Heard the USA full of cheaters. F the Olympics.

 

[rypper]

Let's have a summer, winter, and steroid Olympics.

 

[thecupismine]

Breaking is dope, I love it as a sport. If you don’t, that’s cool too. I appreciate the athleticism needed alongside the musicality & creativity to be great. It’s a great spectacle and I enjoyed watching it over 90%+ of the other sports in the Olympics.

It’s not surprising though that the demographic that likes hockey doesn’t overlap much with breaking - the two target audiences are polar opposite to one another.

 

[Lat]

It's just the two announcers that annoyed the shit out of me. Seriously, they were like pro wrestlers when given a microphone. I've never heard anything like it in the Olympics. What can I say. I'm a traditionalist.

I'm not alone.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1822306605360128142

https://x.com/i/web/status/1822356930838265983

https://x.com/i/web/status/1822185221623591115

100% agreed. Breaking would have been much better if it weren't for those WWE-esque commentators.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

screw having a summer and winter olympics

i want an objective sports olympics alternating every two years with a subjective sports olympics

figure skating, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, diving, skateboarding, ski jumping, halfpipe, and yes breakdancing

I mean hockey refs get shit wrong every single game.

 

[Siludin]

Let's have a summer, winter, and steroid Olympics.

Enhanced Games - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sexy Necksy Garland]

Enhanced Games - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Today I learned the Enhanced Games organizers plan to include combat sports.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I haven't complained about it but I think in general for an Olympic sport you need both some type of a quantifiable measuring system and qualifying legitimacy.

If it's something you directly measure then that's easy. Typically for scoring that is more subjective like say diving the score is based on a combination of the difficulty of what the athlete is attempting - known ahead of time, and how well they technically achieve it.

This BBoy/BGirl stuff seems weird because its a direct 1 on 1 competition with I'm assuming no set routine and judging based largely on feels. And maybe there's some grand organizing event for these competitions to send the best to the Olympics but its not something anyone's really heard of and you see someone like that Australian and it just seems kind amateurish.

What I really want to get to though which popped into mind when I saw that mention of "Canoe Cross", as a proud Canadian I demand that Portaging become an Olympic event!

Canoe events w. portages. Now you're talking!
And they have to hold them in some real woods. Kinda like they had the surfing in Tahiti. I want to see literally dangerous amounts of mosquitoes, possible bear delays etc. It would be awesome. I think we are favorites for Canada!

 

[Andy Dufresne]

As far as break goes they already have an event with dancing horses...so whatever I guess. I just don't get why the rider gets the medal not the horse.