A guide to breakdancing’s Olympic debut
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 August 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
For the first time, breaking – or breakdancing – will be an Olympic event. Since it originated in Black and Latino neighborhoods in the Bronx during the 1970s, it has spread worldwide, with competitions held in places like Brazil, Germany and Korea.
Host Elahe Izadi speaks with Ronnie Abaldonado, a veteran breaker who’s been in some of the most famous breaking crews and judged international competitions for years. He explains how Olympic judges will score the breakers and whom he’s looking forward to watching.
Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Monica Campbell and Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Jason Murray.
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| 0:00.0 | As you've probably heard us talk about on the show, the Washington Post has a big team covering the Paris Olympics. |
| 0:09.0 | They're following all the highlights and what's happening behind the scenes. |
| 0:13.6 | And one way that I've been keeping up on all of it is by listening to the Post's pop-up |
| 0:17.5 | podcast The Sports Moment, hosted by my colleague Ava Wallace. |
| 0:22.2 | On today's episode of the sports moment, |
| 0:24.1 | Ava talks to post features writer Dan Zach, who was covering the Olympics |
| 0:28.4 | as a cultural event, like how celebrities seem to be everywhere this time and the importance of |
| 0:35.1 | hospitality houses at the games, these party houses where people can watch |
| 0:39.3 | sporting events with their compatriots. Again you can listen to that in the Sports Moment Feed. |
| 0:45.0 | But today on Post Report, we're bringing you another Olympic story. |
| 0:50.0 | This one hosted by my colleague Alahay Azani. She dives into something new at the Olympics this year that I'm very excited to watch. |
| 0:59.0 | There are only a few days left in the Paris Olympics. |
| 1:03.4 | And there's one event that you may be surprised to see debut at the games, |
| 1:07.8 | breaking, or as you might call it, breakdancing. It's cool to win the medal, you know, that's my main goal, but honestly just to represent |
| 1:16.6 | hip-hop culture and breaking culture is really what would mean the world to me just to expose |
| 1:21.4 | it to like a broader audience. |
| 1:23.0 | I'm happy to be a part of this, you know, we're making history as we go. |
| 1:26.0 | We're literally like creating it. |
| 1:28.0 | That's B- Boy Victor and B- Boy Phil Wizard. |
| 1:30.0 | They're competing this year. |
| 1:32.0 | And this is all part of a bigger movement to |
| 1:34.8 | add sports to the Olympics that appeal to younger audiences, like surfing and |
... |
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