The organizing committee for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games announced on Monday the list of additional sports that will be proposed to the IOC, and which does not include breaking.
“Sadness” And “twinge“. French breaking continues its preparation for Paris 2024, Tuesday October 10, but with a slight wave in the soul. The Olympic Games in France should be without a future for the discipline which was not selected among the sports additional for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The French team, however, refuses to see this as the end of the adventure, already several years long to obtain recognition of this art as a sport.
The voice of Salim Abidi, breaking coach of the France pole, betrays his disappointment. “We wanted it to continue“, he mentions between two preparation courses for the last competition of the year, in Hong Kong, in December. The president of the French Dance Federation, Charles Ferreira, also contacted by franceinfo: sport, l ‘admits: the decision was feared in the community.I still had some doubts about the renewal of breaking in Los Angeles. The American criteria are not necessarily the same as those of our current organizing committee, which decided to include breaking in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Even with these doubts, it is clear that we are very disappointed.“
Final response by October 17
After this first communication on Monday, the final list of disciplines selected for the Los Angeles Olympics will be determined during the IOC session in Bombay from October 15 to 17, even before breaking has been able to prove itself for its first in Paris. The timing is short but usual. “Be careful, it always happens like this, like karate in Paris for example.specifies Charles Ferreira. But we should have had this first list in the spring, and it had already been postponed. I also saw that as a bad sign.“
“However, we felt that the IOC had a big appetite for the renewal of breaking.”
Charles Ferreira, president of the French Dance Federationat franceinfo: sport
Salim Abidi prefers to remain patient, waiting for the final decision next week. “We are not more affected than that because everything is not yet validated. Some team sports are more difficult to organize and are not practiced in all countries.“The coach of the France pole, however, evokes his disbelief after Monday’s announcement, in France as well as on the other side of the Atlantic.”Lots of dancers don’t understand, especially in the United States. It’s their country, it’s the cradle of hip-hop.“
But while waiting for the IOC to decide, and faced with this situation which they cannot control, the French breakers are diving back into the objective of Paris. “We remain hopeful for the futureinsists Salim Abidi. The medal objectives do not change for 2024. We remain focused on that. The development is there, we are validated as a sport with the Ministry of Sports, we are in the loop of the major championships, of the world, of Europe… It is not because the Olympic path will or will not be in 2028 that everything will stop.“
“Everyone saw a real interest in the discipline entering the Games because it provided guaranteesagrees Charles Ferreira. We still believe in breaking.“Apart from the slim hope for publishing in California, the door to Olympism is perhaps not double-shut.”We know that Australia, with Brisbane 2032, is interested“, specifies the head of FFDanse.