The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris featured a wide range of traditional Olympic sports, but disciplines that were recently held for the first time attracted particular attention.

Skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and breaking were four non-traditional sports that thrilled audiences at the Paris Games.

Breaking, also known as breakdancing, made its Olympic debut. Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were represented for the first time at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Here you will find everything you need to know about each sport (except surfing).

Break

When did the breaking take place at the 2024 Olympic Games?

The girls’ competition began and ended on August 9, while the boys’ competition began and ended on August 10.

Where did the break occur?

Breaking’s headquarters were located at La Concorde, a temporary transformation of the iconic public square Place de la Concorde. La Concorde also hosted skateboarding, BMX freestyle cycling and 3×3 basketball.

Which rules are worth breaking?

Breaking consists of two disciplines – one for 16 B-boys and one for 16 B-girls. Each group competes in individual matches. The athletes are judged on their dance moves, which are improvised to the beat of the DJ’s tracks.

How is the breaking assessed?

The judges select the winner based on five criteria: vocabulary, technique, execution, originality and musicality. Vocabulary refers to the sequence of movements a competitor attempts, while technique and execution are more about how those movements are performed.

Technique refers to athleticism, body control and the way the athlete uses the stage. Execution is about the smoothness and precision of the movements – pauses, falls, slips and falls are all penalized.

Competitors are rewarded for the originality of their movements and reactions to the dance competition. Musicality follows a similar style of judging and examines how well athletes understand the rhythm of the music and how well they can dance freely to it.

Who won gold medals in breakdancing at the 2024 Olympics?

Men: Phil Wizard (Canada)

Women: Ami Yuasa (Japan)

Skateboarding

When did skateboarding take place at the 2024 Olympic Games?

The heats and finals in the men’s road race took place on July 27, while the heats and finals in the women’s road race took place on July 28. The heats and finals in the women’s park race took place on August 6, while the heats and finals in the men’s park race took place on August 7.

22 athletes take part in each competition, making a total of 88.

Where did skateboarding take place at the 2024 Olympic Games?

The event was hosted by La Concorde.

The street competitions took place on a “street-like” course with stairs, handrails and benches, designed to mimic the environments where skateboarding originated. The park competitions took place on a course that combined depressions and curves.

What are the rules of Olympic skateboarding?

Speed, difficulty and volume of movements are the basis for judging in street and park competitions. However, each competition has its own specific format.

The street competition consists of two phases, with eight competitors advancing from the preliminary round to the final round. Skaters complete two 45-second runs, with the best of the two counting towards the next round, and there is also a single phase with five attempts to land a trick.

In the trick phase, the two best tricks count towards the final score, while in the running phase only the highest score counts.

In the park competition, the skaters have two 45-second runs in which they have to perform as many tricks as possible.

They are judged according to the World Skate rules on five criteria: repetition, flow and consistency, use of the course, quality of execution and difficulty and variety of tricks performed.

During the skating and trick portion, points are awarded from 0 to 100, with the highest score contributing towards the skater’s total score. However, the top two tricks are all scored from 0 to 100, so the total score is between 0 and 300.

This is a change from the Tokyo Olympics, where points were awarded from 0 to 10 and only the highest score for the run and trick counted, not both.

Who won gold medals in skateboarding at the 2024 Olympics?

Men: Keegan Palmer (Australia)

Women: Arisa Trew (Australia)

Sport climbing

When did sport climbing take place at the 2024 Olympic Games?

The men’s and women’s competitions began on August 5 and ended on August 10.

Where did sport climbing take place at the 2024 Olympic Games?

Sport climbing was held at the Le Bourget sports climbing facility, which was built especially for the Paris Games.

What rules apply to Olympic sport climbing?

There are three sport climbing formats: bouldering, speed and lead.

In bouldering, athletes have a limited amount of time to climb 4.5 m high walls without a rope in as few attempts as possible. The speed competition is a one-on-one knockout race against the clock. In the lead event, athletes have to climb as high as possible on a wall over 15 m high in 6 minutes.

In Tokyo 2020, the final results of each athlete reflected the combined results of the three competitions. However, in Paris 2024, there were two competitions, each crowning a winner – one was a combination of bouldering and lead competitions, the other consisted of just the speed competition.

Who won gold medals in sport climbing at the 2024 Olympic Games?

Men’s combination: Toby Roberts (Great Britain)

Combination women: Janja Garnbret (Slovenia)