If you think breaking should not be an Olympic sport, I assume you feel the same way about artistic swimming and rhythmic gymnastics. There’s an incredible amount of skill, strength, stamina, flexibility, hand-eye coordination, and willingness to be sore or injured in all of them. And did you scoff at snowboarding, and other winter sports that were considered x-treme when they were Olympified? Breaking is x-treme gymnastics, when you get down to it. And if you think there’s “nothing to it” about someone supporting their entire body weight on one arm while spinning, I want to hang out where you do.
Seriously, Mr. Rilch and I and our friend group enjoyed the heck out of breaking. Snoop Dogg doing the coup de baton to open the event is one of my top ten moments from these Games. And did you see the video of the huge line to get into the arena? We’re old enough to have been teens/tweens when breaking got started, and it is amazing to us that it now has cred. Even the music was a nostalgia trip; I heard Apache and White Lines being sampled. Never would have believed it, when I was first hearing those songs on WPLJ in the early '80s, that someday they would be used on an international stage. And as I said in the main thread, it will be ridiculous to have the next summer games in Los Angeles and not have breaking as an event. I wouldn’t be surprised if some local celebs offer to fund it themselves, or whatever it takes.
I can think of a few reasons for this attitude. It was the last weekend, and people were burned out. Some people just never gave a thought to breaking, or breakdancing, until this, and what they saw didn’t impress them enough to spark appreciation. And some may have been nonplussed by (summer) athletes wearing baggy clothing, and for the women, no makeup and their hair covered. For many people, a lot of the appeal of the summer Games is ogling, and this event gave no opportunity for that.
That still doesn’t make it a non-event, though. And why do people even get so bent out of shape about an Olympic event they don’t like? If every event was something they wanted to see, they’d never get any sleep. I can see being resentful if they thought the event they don’t like is standing in the way of something they would like to see added. But I doubt it’s that cut-and-dried.
And finally, this from Mr. Rilch:
[Rilchiam]’s on point. I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED “Olympic Breaking”. It was a blast to watch, and the participating athletes were insanely skilled and incredibly creative with their moves and flow. The DJ’s played some hip-hop classics and the event turned me on to some new tracks (my new favorite track “The Carpenter” by “Homeboy Sandman” was used for a round in the women’s event).
To the many haters out there who have taken the time to put this event down on social media, I can only assume you hate joy, happiness and watching people have a good time. Go pound salt.