BREAKING IN THE PARIS OLYMPICS

I was all set today to write a solid science posting, toying with the coming of giant Joro spiders, but was thumbing through my unread magazines piling up from my global journey, and one article caught my fancy. First, did you know that the Paris Summer Olympics will begin on July 27?

In 776 BC, the first Greek Olympics, and for the next dozen to follow, there was only one event. The stadion was a foot race of 600 feet.
A century ago, in the Paris Summer Olympics of 1924, they had tug of war, croquet and something called jeu de paume, although this latter sport was just for exhibition. The last time this "tennis" type game was official was in the 1908 London Olympics.

The modern Olympics returned in 1896 with 43 events in nine sports.
This year, there will be 32 different sports for 329 medal events. In 2020 Tokyo, 33 sports and 339 events.

However, no more baseball (Major League teams complained), softball is gone, and so is karate. But not to fret, as the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics will bring back baseball (even though the Major League is still moaning) and softball, plus cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash.
The new sports in Paris will be skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing....and, get ready for this....breakdancing. Interestingly enough, the LA Olympics will drop breaking, but keep the other three new ones.
So here are the 32:

Aquatics (Swimming, Marathon Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming)
Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball (3x3, Basketball)
Boxing
Breaking
Canoe (Canoe Sprint, Canoe Slalom)
Cycling (BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Road Cycling, Track Cycling)
Equestrian (Equestrian Eventing, Equestrian Dressage, Equestrian Jumping)
Fencing
Football (which is soccer for the rest of the world)
Golf
Gymnastics (Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline Gymnastics)
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Rugby (Rugby Sevens)
Sailing
Shooting
Skateboarding
Sport Climbing
Surfing
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Triathlon
Volleyball (Beach Volleyball, Volleyball)
Weightlifting
Wrestling (Greco-Roman Wrestling, Freestyle Wrestling)

NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26, beginning at noon ET. Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Primetime coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.

Breakdancing is called breaking in Paris, the more popular term today. Here is that Time magazine article. I'll summarize:

The presentation features Grace Sunny Choi.

Born in Cookeville, Tennessee to PhDs from Daegu, South Korea.
Family moved to Kentucky.
All four children took piano lessons.
Sunny, now 35, became a serious gymnast until she hurt her knee as a teenager. Began to experience periods of intense depression, including suicidal thoughts.
At the University of Pennsylvania as a freshman got into breaking, created by Black and Latino youths in New York City half a century ago.
Worked and danced, while depression kept returning.
Chose dancing over marriage, kids, etc. A crazy dream.
Won the first gold medal ever for breaking at the 2023 Pan American Games. This is why she automatically qualified for Paris. Here is a CNN video about her, but the first half is just regular news.
Now has sponsorship deals with Nike and Samsung.
Sees a therapist, paid for by the U.S. Olympic Committee, to minimize her mental health problems.

Has helped confront her fear of failure.
Naomi Osaka in tennis, Simone Biles gymnastics and Michael Phelps swimming also suffered from mental problems.
There are 15 mental health providers employed by the Committee.

When not dancin', she was director of global creative operations at Estée Lauder, until she quit last year to focus on her sport.
Called a B-girl for guess what?
Is 5'1", eats a lot of salmon and is a medal contender in Paris.

Breaking will occur in the Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in Paris. Seats are sold out.
Breaking is not like gymnastics where points accrue. Format is head-to-head competition.

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