Breakdancing will not return to the 2028 LA Games. How do sports get dropped from the Olympics?

Following a viral, meme-inducing debut at the Paris Olympics, breakdancing will not return to the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The decision to keep breakdancing out of the LA 2028 games was made long before Raygun or any other Olympic breakdancers performed on the worldwide stage.

The Los Angeles Olympic organizers chose not to include the sport in 2023 because it did not fit their vision for the Games. It had nothing to do with any of the breakdancer’s performances.

“It’s up to each local organizing committee to determine which [additional] sports to put forward that fit with their vision of the Games,” IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell said last year during a press briefing of why the Los Angeles Olympic organizers chose not to include the sport, per The Washington Post . “Obviously breaking fit very clearly with Paris’s vision of a very youth-focused urban engagement.”

Breaking had such a brief stint in the Olympics — why was it added in the first place? And how do Olympic sports get dropped from the games?

Why was breakdancing added to the Paris Olympics?

After a successful run at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, breaking was added to the Olympic program for the 2024 Paris Games, per the Olympics .

Breaking is part of a surge of new, urban sports being added to the Olympic Games, such as skateboarding and cycling BMX.

The International Olympic Committee has been introducing new sports to the Games to appeal to a wider, younger audience — breaking was part of that initiative, per USA Today .

“Breaking is allowing the [International Olympic Committee] to reconnect with the youth, the generation between 15 and 25 years old,” said Jean-Laurent Bourquin, a former senior manager with the committee and the former CEO of the World DanceSport Federation, breaking’s international governing body, per The Athletic .

During the 1970s in the U.S., breakdancing originated as an urban sport, per the Olympics . In the past five decades, breaking has grown into a worldwide sport, especially popular within the hip-hop community.

Breaking is comprised of moves that include complex footwork, flips, twists, spinning on the head and other acrobatic-based moves.

How are sports retired from the Olympics?

Dozens of sports have been added, removed and sometimes re-added to the Olympics. Polo, golf, karate, tandem cycling, tug-of-war, tumbling and rope climbing were all previously summer Olympic sports, per ESPN .

“The Olympics are constantly evolving, it’s trial and error,” Bob Barney, professor emeritus at the University of Western Ontario and an Olympic historian, told NBC Insider . “(The International Olympic Committee) will try something and if it works great, they will embrace it, they will refine it, they will carry it on. If it doesn’t work, well, back to the drawing board.”

“They put those five rings in front of them that represent the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania (Australia), so they look for sports that represent all of those five rings as best as they can.”

Olympic sports require a high level of competition on a global level. They must also appeal to a global audience — most of which will view the event via television, per NBC News .

Rugby, for example, has struggles to maintain a steady position in the Olympics. The sport evolved into a faster-paced version when it was brought back to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.

“Rugby disappeared until the twenty-first century, when it came back not as the classical version but as the telegenic new version of rugby-7′s,” Mark Dyreson, professor of kinesiology and history at Penn State University, told NBC News . “Here, money and television’s brilliant images shaped the IOC, which more than anything else craves the world’s largest TV audience.”

On occasion, sports are restored to the Olympics. Both cricket and baseball will make a return to the Olympic games in LA in 2028. So, breaking could come back in future Games.

What new sports are being added to the Summer Olympics?

Five new Olympic sports will make their debut at the Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

The sports being added to the Olympic program are: flag football, lacrosse, cricket, squash and baseball/softball, per the International Olympic Committee .

“The choice of these five new sports is in line with the American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States. These sports will make the Olympic Games LA28 unique,” said IOC President Thomas Bach, per the IOC . “Their inclusion will allow the Olympic Movement to engage with new athlete and fan communities in the US and globally.”