How breaking scoring works in the Olympics

by: Juan Cisneros

Posted: Aug 8, 2024 / 01:33 PM MDT

Updated: Aug 8, 2024 / 01:33 PM MDT

(NEXSTAR) – For the first time, 32 b-boys and b-girls will take the Olympic stage and battle for gold at La Concorde in Paris.

After a successful debut at the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympics, the International Olympic Committee Executive Board voted in 2020 to include breaking — also known as breakdancing — in the games.

Qualification for Paris 2024

Each participating nation will have a maximum of four athletes (two b-boys and two b-girls), except host nation France, which is allocated six participants thanks to the Tripartite Commission.

To compete in Paris, athletes must have been born before December 31, 2008.

Those who qualified for the Olympics did so through their respective continental championships, the 2023 World Championship or the Olympic Qualifiers Series.

Scoring

Breaking is recognized as an urban sport, much like sport climbing and skateboarding. Breakers will face off in 1-on-1 battles, while DJs mix music in the background and a master of ceremonies navigates the show.

A panel of nine judges will score each battle based on:

musicality — how athletes understand the rhythm of the music
vocabulary — the arsenal of moves a competitor uses
technique — athleticism, body control and usage of the space
execution — the sharpness and smoothness of each move
originality — selection of moves and reactions during battle

Each category accounts for 20% of their final score. Competitors can lose points for misbehavior. Judges will use a digital sliding scale to score each battle and will show which breaker is outperforming the other in real-time.

Breakers will not know the music until each battle begins. Each battle is a best-of-three “throwdowns,” and each b-boy and b-girl will have 60 seconds to perform their routine.

In Paris, the breaking competitions will be held over two days, with b-girls taking part on Aug. 9 and b-boys on Aug. 10.

Each day begins with four groups of four facing off in a round-robin, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals. The semi-finals and finals will follow until gold, silver and bronze are awarded.

Misbehavior

Each judge on the panel will have three misbehavior buttons in front of them to penalize an athlete if they act inappropriately.

The buttons are distinguished from one another by severity:

mild (3% deduction) — accidental, unintentional or nonaggressive acts or gestures
moderate (6% deduction) — non-violent, but intentional intimidating or degrading act to a specific person
severe (10% deduction) — aggressive, violent or sexual act.

If a majority of the panel deem an act as severe misbehavior, the breaker will be up for disqualification with the final ruling coming from the panel chair.