Goodbye Paris, hello Los Angeles. The 2024 Summer Olympics have officially wrapped as of last weekend, and while we’re sad to see these world and internet champions retreat from the spotlight, it just means we’re that much closer to the Rayguns and Nedorosciks of tomorrow at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
But don’t expect round two of zero-point kangaroo shenanigans next year; the International Olympic Committee has already confirmed that breaking — the event that gifted us those very shenanigans — will not be returning for Los Angeles 2028.
The event, in which contestants showed off their breakdancing skills and were graded by a of judges, made its Olympic debut in Paris as an optional sport. Per Woman’s World, the IOC reportedly chose to include breaking in the 2024 Summer Olympic program as a way to appeal to younger, social media-savvy viewers, and while all the memes would suggest that they accomplished that goal, the actual, real-time engagement with the event wasn’t enough to justify breaking’s future in the Games.
But, as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. In Los Angeles 2028’s case, the absence of breaking will be countered by the addition of baseball, flag football, lacrosse, squash, and cricket, the latter of which hasn’t appeared at the Olympics since 1900. Skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing, meanwhile, have all been upgraded from optional sports to permanent Olympic events.
So while our best chance of seeing Raygun in Los Angeles lies in the opening or closing ceremony (the 2032 Summer Olympics are being held in Brisbane, just so you know), there’s still plenty of opportunities for new heroes to arise. Who’s to say that a dark horse NOC won’t make a spectacular run in baseball on the back of a cartoonishly-colossal athlete whose only job is to hit home runs?
The final medal count of the 2024 Summer Olympics can be found here.
Published: Aug 13, 2024 03:18 pm