"Get Ready for Paris 2024: Breaking, Surfing, Climbing, and Skateboarding!"

From breakdancing to sport climbing, surfing to skateboarding, we will be dancing, climbing, and gliding at the Paris 2024 Games next summer. These four new sports will join the essential Olympic disciplines. It's an exciting program that should attract both young and older audiences! With less than a year until the Opening Ceremony, let's explore these new sports that hope to inspire people in France to start and grow in these activities.

Breaking: The Most Artistic

How about dancing in Paris this summer? Only five years after being recognized as a top-level sport in France, "breaking" is set to make its grand debut at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And not just anywhere. The 32 qualified athletes – 16 B-girls and 16 B-boys – will compete at the famous Place de la Concorde on August 9 and 10. Popularized in the U.S. in the 1990s, this sport blends art, dance, and music, inspired by hip-hop. Breakers aim to impress the judges with acrobatic moves to a DJ's beats.

Where to practice? Enjoy the show? Join a dance club and, who knows, you might even compete in the next Olympics.

French Dance Federation:The Breaking at the Paris Games

Skateboarding: The Most Urban

Who will follow in the footsteps of Momiji Nishiya, the first Olympic skateboarding champion at just 13 years old? The answer will come on July 27 and 28, 2024, for the Street event and on August 6 and 7 for the Park event at Place de la Concorde, transformed into an urban sports haven for the Paris Games. Speed, skill, board control, and amplitude will be key to executing the best tricks. A symbol of freedom and rebellion, often linked with the 1980s underground movement, skateboarding is loved by young adrenaline seekers. Originating in the U.S. in the 1950s, this sport now has over 3,000 licensed skaters in France.

Where to practice? Before tackling public squares, stairs, or skate parks, start at one of the thousand clubs affiliated with the Fédération Française de Roller et de Skateboard. You'll get guidance from qualified instructors and use helmets, knee, and elbow pads.

French Roller and Skateboard Federation: Skateboarding at the Paris Games

Surfing: The Most Energetic

24 surfers are getting ready to take on the Teahupo'o Rollers in 2024. Known for its clear waters and tropical surroundings, this spot boasts some of the world's most impressive waves, reaching heights of 2, 3, and even 7 meters. But it's the swell breaking over Tahiti's shallow reefs that athletes fear most. The show promises to be spectacular with a mix of figures, speed, power, and rhythm! Surfing, part of the Olympic program since 2020, has over 35 million fans worldwide, including 80,000 in France, mostly young people. This number will likely grow after the Paris Games.

Where to surf? France's 20,000 km of coastline offers plenty of surfing spots. Start with the Atlantic coast, with famous places like Biarritz in the Basque Country, Hossegor, Lacanau near Bordeaux, and La Torche in Brittany. All are accessible by train from Paris, where you can learn or improve your surfing at a surf club, school, or camp with accommodation.

French Surfing Federation: Surfing at the Paris Games

Sport Climbing: The Most Aerial

"Faster, higher, stronger" perfectly describes sport climbing, one of the new sports for the 2020 Games. Near Stade de France and the Aquatic Centre, the renovated Parc sportif et scolaire du Bourget will host the speed and bouldering/difficulty combined events. From August 5 to 10, 2024, the world's best climbers will face challenges like scaling a 15-meter wall in under 6 seconds or climbing a 4.5-meter wall without a rope in 6 minutes without knowing the route.

Exciting to watch, this new popular sport attracts 25 million people, mainly young, in nearly 150 countries. France has over 100,000 members, and the interest isn't new: one of the first climbing competitions was held in Vaulx-en-Velin, near Lyon, in 1986.