The atmosphere is historic, and the excitement is palpable; two emcees introduce the contestants with loud, booming voices and glistening gold chains. The contestants enter the stage and music starts to play. Throughout the 2024 Paris Olympics, viewers were able to witness peak human athleticism displayed through various Olympic sports — one of them being breaking.
The original Olympic Games, which date back to 776 B.C., featured just six sports, including running, wrestling and long jump, according to the International Olympic Committee. Now, there are more than 32 Olympic sports which encompass a total of 48 disciplines.
While some sports deserve an Olympic title, others most certainly do not and should be removed or redesigned in order for the Olympic Games to continuously improve.
Equestrian
Equestrian events were first included in the 1900 Paris Olympics and, after not being staged for two more seasons, they returned in 1912 and have been featured in every Olympic game since.
Despite its deep roots within modern Olympic history, it is time for equestrian events to retire from the Olympic lineup. Aside from being a dreadfully boring sport to watch, Olympic equestrian events are rife with animal welfare concerns and in most cases, outright abuse. For example, Charlotte Dujardin, an Olympic champion in dressage, was recently exposed for whipping a horse during training. In the short video provided by The Guardian Sports, she can be seen whipping her horse 20 times in just one minute. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to animal abuse within the Games, and not much is done to stop it. In addition to its outdated nature, it is a sport with one of the highest barriers to entry. To start, horses are not cheap, especially good ones; owning a horse incurs many extra costs to adequately house, feed, train, transport and take care of it. This prevents viewers from experiencing the sport for themselves, which further distances it from relevance and it should be removed.
Men’s Football
Football is one of the most popular sports across the world; it has an estimated 3.5 billion followers. Numerous countries in various parts of the world have professional, or, at least, semi-professional football leagues. As such, football competitions such as the World Cup, Euros, Copa America and Asian Cup are some of the most viewed sporting events in the world. Men’s football at the Olympics, however, is a U23 competition, and, since it is not recognised by FIFA as an official tournament, clubs can withhold their players from competing.
Although these regulations allow for younger talent to be highlighted, they make men’s football less appealing to fans who enjoy following their country’s national team. On the other hand, women’s football doesn’t face the same age restriction — It’s clear that men’s football at the Olympics needs some rethinking. Seeing as though men’s football already has so many competitive events allowing players to play at the highest level, having an Olympic tournament is simply unnecessary. Additionally, 55% of professional football players claimed to have been injured due to an overloaded schedule in a FIFPRO survey, meaning fewer tournaments would benefit players as well.
Breaking
Breaking was introduced during the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the Olympics, similar to many other sports, it is separated by gender. Two players face off on a circular-shaped stage, and, from there, a random song that the contestants have no practiced routine for will begin to play. The contestants must then come up with a dance that correlates with the song.
Contestants are scored on the number of votes they receive from a set of nine judges. This sport was very fun to watch and easy to understand. Additionally, it enhanced the level of excitement surrounding the Games as it was a new sport and set the stage for some iconic dancers such as Rachael Gunn, the Australian B-Girl whose bizarre dance moves earned her zero votes throughout the competition, to become famous on the internet.
All things considered, it is a positive sport that also displays some very honed athleticism in the various twists and turns conjured by the dancers. Despite breaking’s success in the 2024 Paris Games, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics have decided not to feature breaking in the Olympic lineup, and it is uncertain as to whether or not it will return in future years. This is really disappointing because there was a lot of energy and excitement surrounding the sport, and all that energy will be lost as it fades into irrelevance.
Skateboarding
Skateboarding, similar to breaking, is a recent addition to the Olympics. It takes place on a varied course that features bends and ramps similar to a skate park. Contestants are scored on the moves they perform as well as their quality.
Skateboarding debuted at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and brought many younger contestants into the Games. Although it has received some backlash, I firmly believe it should maintain its Olympic status. It’s not a highly complex sport for viewers to understand since the scoring is based on how good the performance is, similar to gymnastics and breaking. As a positive outcome of the sport being featured in the Games, the skateboarding community has been revitalized and shown new support from fans.
The definition of an Olympic sport is constantly changing. For example, tug-of-war and water motorsports were once Olympic sports. However, as times change, so must the Olympic lineup. As the Olympic torch is passed on to future cities, it must not carry the burden of outdated Olympic events with it.
