Well...it's been announced that breakdancing will be an official sport at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris!
What about the tradition (history) of breakdancing versus...squash?
According to Wikipedia, "Breaking" was created by the African American
and Puerto Rican youth in the early 1970's. Squash has its origins in
the older game of rackets, which was played in London's prisons in the
19th century. Later, around 1830, boys at the Harrow School noticed
that a punctured ball, which "squashed" on impact with the wall,
offered more variety to the game. What about women's participation in
breakdancing!? Similar to other hip-hop subcultures, such as graffit
(that's a good one) writing, rapping and DJing, "breakers" are (you
guessed it)...predominately male! And..."breaking's" nickname
is...B-Boying! What does that say about diversification!?
According the the Olympic Games mission, gender equality is a top
priority for the Olympic movement. The two main aims are to make access
to sport in general, and the Olympic Games easier for female athletes,
and to increase the number of women in sports administration and
management. We don't believe that squash is "predominately" played by
males...for sure! What about the countries where "breakdancing" is
taking place? Again, (quoting Wikipedia), there are about NINE
countries, including America, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, France, Japan,
South Korea the Soviet Union and China participating in..."B-Boying!?
Squash has about 120 countries playing the game...too many to mention
here! So...the "numbers" don't seem to make sense!
If the Olympic Organizing Committee wants to bring a more diverse
audience to the Olympic Games, how about the fact that the game of
squash is participated in by 20 million boys, girls, men and women of
ALL ages...for a lifetime! How many break-dancers are there? According
Wiki, there are only about five-million world wide! Additionally, in a
survey conducted by Forbes Magazine, squash was rated to be top of the
leader-board for being the healthiest sport...in the WORLD!
We ask...is breakdancing a sport, or just as indicated...dancing, like ballroom, tap, jitterbug, ballet, salsa, etc.!?
Should they all be added to the Olympic Games program? We think NOT!
