Fans Go Wild Over Breaking Making Its Olympic Debut at Paris Games

For Olympic host nations, one of the most treasured honors is getting to introduce new sports. Women's boxing made its debut at London 2012. Karate made the program at Tokyo 2020. The Paris Olympics followed suit with two new sports.

One of them was kayak cross. The other sport — breaking, or break dancing — began its competition on Friday, and to say it was an immediate hit with fans and viewers would be an understatement.

Breaking, which originated from hip-hop culture in New York City in the 1970s, had social media buzzing all day Friday. It also was the No. 1 trending topic on Google.

The breaking venue at Place de la Concorde was filled with fans, too.

Paris Olympic organizers, along with the International Olympic Committee, included breaking to make the Summer Games more appealing to a younger audience. The competition is scored by a panel of judges, who assess each breaker's routine that comprise three types of moves — top rock (standing), down rock (on the floor) and freeze.

The curiosity and anticipation over the sport led to genuine excitement and admiration as the competition's first event — the women's competition or B-Girls — progressed from its qualifying battles all the way to the gold medal duel on Friday.

Japan's Ami out-dueled Lithuania's Nicki to win gold. The men's breaking competition will be held Saturday.

Not surprisingly, hip-hop icons shared their enthusiasm for breaking on social media. And, of course, Snoop Dogg was in the house.

Unfortunately for breaking fans, the sport won't be included in the next Summer Games, and the decision to not bring it back for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics left World DanceSport Federation president Shawn Tay "profoundly disappointed."

However, there is hope breaking will return for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.