Break Dancing a Sport?

[starvenger]

Is there a high chance of injury? Not asking for safety sake, just to see if it's less boring that it seems.

For duffers like you and I? Definitely a chance of wiping out on the ice. My old company used to do a curling team building event, and there was always a high chance of at least one person slipping and landing on their... posterior.

For people that know what they're doing? Unlikely.

It's a weird sport though. You're generally quite friendly with your opposition, it's largely self-scored, and yelling at your teammates is not only allowed, but encouraged.

 

[Kitty 34]

I probably will watch to jam to the music.

 

[tvguy]

Not sure break dancing is a sports. To be honest, didn't know anyone still did break dancing. What next at the Olympics, Curling with your pet rock?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

For duffers like you and I? Definitely a chance of wiping out on the ice. My old company used to do a curling team building event, and there was always a high chance of at least one person slipping and landing on their... posterior.

For people that know what they're doing? Unlikely.

It's a weird sport though. You're generally quite friendly with your opposition, it's largely self-scored, and yelling at your teammates is not only allowed, but encouraged.

We're actually a lot more into curling this Olympics than last. It's explained as a gentleman's sport in a way that a lot of stuff is honor-coded.

We watched the U.S. men's team against China and as it sorta the honor code if you touch an opponent's stone you call it out. One of our guys thought he might have glanced China's stone (their guard) with the broom and immediately called it out. China had the opportunity to agree or disagree with action taken. The officials were not involved in that decision other than due to a language barrier they translated what happened to China's coach who then relayed that to the players. China advised they thought the U.S.'s stone would have hit the guard (replay shows it wouldn't have) but they took no action.

There's a lot of movement your body has to do so injury I think is something only really talked about after a match as part of a repetitive movement but as far as crashes no you're not likely to see that as these players are quite used to "skating" on the ice moving from side to side and during the action, it's a fluid movement too you see when they have to avoid other stones on their way down. But we don't find it boring, there's something sorta nice about it not being heavily officiated, there's no complicated scoring although it takes a bit to get used to how they score and the various terms (house, guard, freeze, hog line, etc) and there's no disguise in what you're going to do (so no whispering your strategy you're usually yelling it lol) although language barriers may prevent people from understanding an opponent.

I did read an article where I thought they had a point. While we enjoy the game there may be something about bringing in a speed version where it shortens the play down. 8 ends for double and 10 ends for team can still take several hours. I think that prevents some people from wanting to watch. Then again some of the 20+ lap speed skating events I tend to only watch one or two because they take so long. But give me team relay or a 500m, 1000m race and it's fast paced enough.

 

[SirDuff]

For duffers like you and I? Definitely a chance of wiping out on the ice. My old company used to do a curling team building event, and there was always a high chance of at least one person slipping and landing on their... posterior.

For people that know what they're doing? Unlikely.

It's a weird sport though. You're generally quite friendly with your opposition, it's largely self-scored, and yelling at your teammates is not only allowed, but encouraged.

And the winners buy the losers drinks after the game (well, maybe not at the Olympics).

 

[Jennasis]

The very image of soldiers stopping and holding a show jumping competition makes me laugh. Do they hand out ribbons prior to storming the lake or after? I also feel bad for the horses having to swim so far... =(

I believe it is supposed to demonstrate cavalry skills (horsemanship and riding). The sad part is, all the pentathlon showcases is the athletes EXTREME lack of horsemanship and riding skills.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Not sure break dancing is a sports. To be honest, didn't know anyone still did break dancing. What next at the Olympics, Curling with your pet rock?

Rap music at the Super Bowl and breakdancing at the Olympics. It’s great to see these big institutions boldly stepping into the 1980s.

 

[Orion Nebula]

I was joking, I get what you are saying. It just doesn't seem that great of a competition.

 

[starvenger]

I did read an article where I thought they had a point. While we enjoy the game there may be something about bringing in a speed version where it shortens the play down. 8 ends for double and 10 ends for team can still take several hours. I think that prevents some people from wanting to watch. Then again some of the 20+ lap speed skating events I tend to only watch one or two because they take so long. But give me team relay or a 500m, 1000m race and it's fast paced enough.

They do have a point for sure. You want to speed up play to make things more TV friendly but not lose much of what makes the sport unique. And believe it or not, the game used to be a lot slower as it is, so I'm sure the powers that be are aware of this. So I guess we'll see what the future holds here.

 

[Mysterian]

For duffers like you and I? Definitely a chance of wiping out on the ice. My old company used to do a curling team building event, and there was always a high chance of at least one person slipping and landing on their... posterior.

For people that know what they're doing? Unlikely.

It's a weird sport though. You're generally quite friendly with your opposition, it's largely self-scored, and yelling at your teammates is not only allowed, but encouraged.

These athletes would be great at Swiffering floors.

 

[rangerxenos]

Dancing may be a sport, but break dancing? That was big in the early 80s, I think?!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Back when I used to break dance down in the neighborhood.....................

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Lower bar for the winter Olympics.

With that said, curling is much more competitive than women's hockey among the member nations. Mind you, I don't want to see women's sports eliminated, but when you can say with almost 99% certainty that the US and Canada are competing for gold/silver then you've got a serious competitive imbalance that needs to be addressed.

Germany winning all the sliding events needs to be addressed also. It has become like Formula 1. The winners have much better cars than everyone else. The only event the Germans didn't win..... The womens single bobs where all the sleds were equal and provided. The team that broke up Germany's 123 in the four man bob. They were using last year's German sled they bought.

Think of pentathlon as storming a castle - you steal a horse and jump over fences to get there; swim across the moat; shoot the guards; duel/fence the evil Lord; and then run away.

Totally makes sense now, doesn’t it?

The problem is they swim back and forth in the moat first and end on exactly the side they started, then they duel, but with each other instead of the evil lord, then they just draw lots for horses and jump over the weakest fences they ever constructed and end up going around in a big circle rather than going anywhere, then they play laser target and run at the same time.

The team figure skating competition has existed since Sochi 2014. This was the 3rd time it had been held, not the first. It was not added for the current winter Olympics.

That just means it has been around for 3 olympics too long instead of one.

 

[OKW8297]

My knee jerk reaction is "no". But then I think about other various sports that are judged subjectively... gymnastics, snowboarding, diving, and figure skating all immediately come to mind. So what makes those different than break dancing?

Exactly. I felt the same and had the same thought process.

 

[VandVsmama]

They should make pole dancing an Olympic sport before break dancing, with competitors getting extra points for having super high heeled shoes on. 4" or higher and you get an automatic points boost.

And I'd like to know if Sir Mix A Lot or NWA songs will be permissible for Olympic break dancing.

 

[monsterkitty]

My former school had immigrants from many developing countries. Break dancing, or "breaking" as it's called, is hugely popular with many of the students. Our students would often have "challenges" during school dances.

After doing extensive research on the breaking at the Olympics (I googled haha) this is what I found:

Olympic history
Breaking made its Olympic debut at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018. Following its outstanding success, breaking has been chosen to feature on the Paris 2024 Olympic sports programme as a new sport, along with surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing.

My niece was a competitive dancer. Her high school required 2 years of PE, but those who participated in a sport were exempt. When she filed for the exemption, she was denied because "dancing wasn't a sport" according to the head of the PE department, who was also the football coach. She invited him across the street from the high school, where the dance school was, so he could see what she did every day, 4-5 hours a day, after school. He came to watch and stayed for two hours and he granted her her the exemption. When my niece and her group took second on Americas Got Talent, he asked for her autograph.

 

[RedAngie]

These athletes would be great at Swiffering floors.

When the UK women’s curling team won gold in 2002, they DID appear in some type of broom or mop commercial afterwards.

I believe they just won gold again.

 

[RedAngie]

The number of those mixed team events is getting ridiculous. Every Olympics more and more are added.

I get it, it’s a cheap way to expand the program and give out more medals.

But why stop there? Have team medals for a combination of different sports. Norway vs. Germany in combined luge and biathlon results. Or figure skating and snowboard slopestyle. The combinations are endless!!!

 

[Buzz Rules]

The number of those mixed team events is getting ridiculous. Every Olympics more and more are added.

I get it, it’s a cheap way to expand the program and give out more medals.

But why stop there? Have team medals for a combination of different sports. Norway vs. Germany in combined luge and biathlon results. Or figure skating and snowboard slopestyle. The combinations are endless!!!

I thought mixed swimming was a great addition.

 

[JimMIA]

They should make pole dancing an Olympic sport before break dancing, with competitors getting extra points for having super high heeled shoes on. 4" or higher and you get an automatic points boost.

And I'd like to know if Sir Mix A Lot or NWA songs will be permissible for Olympic break dancing.

How does one dance with a pole?

Asking for a friend...