The Olympics are quickly approaching.

YEAH !!!

Yes – I love The Olympics.

Not as much as I used to, having kids does limit how much one can watch the Olympics, but I still am an Olympic enthusiast.

However, if you are a fan of Olympic Baseball and/or Olympic Softball then you are out of luck.

That’s because the 2024 Olympics in France will not have baseball or softball.

Um…… what?

Well, it seems the IOC (International Olympic Committee) has decided not to include baseball and softball as part of its schedule.

But there have been new sports added:

               1 Break Dancing

               2 Sports Climbing

               3 Skateboarding

               4 Surfing

And besides softball and baseball, another sport will not be competing – Karate.

I am not the most stalwart Karate fan, but I don’t like the idea of having a sport in the Olympics one year but not the next.  How is someone supposed to defend their title?

Both softball and baseball are slated to return in 2028.  And I like it.

I don’t know how baseball will compete with the Summer Olympics falling right in the middle of Major League Baseball season.

But that’s for MLB to figure out.

Will they let professionals take time off of their MLB contracts to participate? 

Who knows. 

But let’s look at one of these new Olympic sports.

I don’t even know how these new sports will decide what competitors will take the “field” for competition.

Let’s take Track for example.

               *Side Note 1 – in official Olympic language it’s called “Athletics”

In the USA, there will be a trials and the top 3 in each event will qualify for the US Olympic Team.  BUT – in order to step onto the track to compete in the OIlympics, all team members must meet the Olympic qualifying standards.

Not usually a problem, but it has happened where a person has finished in the top 3, made the USA Olympic team, but still not met the qualifying standard.  There is time for that person to compete in other recognized events and meet that standard, BUT, if not met then the USA will either only enter 2 competitors or perhaps they go to the next highest finisher in the trials that HAS met the Olympic qualifying standard. 

That could happen.

But there is also another way an athlete can compete in track if a person finishes in the top 3 in the Olympic Trails, and makes the team but hasn’t met the qualifying standard.  Yes, they can still compete if they are in the top 24 of the world rankings.

Sound confusing?  Well, it kind of is.

But will the USA have a United States of America Break Dancing National Championships?

I do not know.

But there has to be some way for the United States to pick the 3 that will make it’s 1st ever Break Dancing Olympic team.

Or will there be a need?

In Olympic Team sports, there are qualifying rounds throughout a time period before the Olympics and only a set number of teams will qualify to compete in the Olympics.

By what criteria will the IOC (International Olympic Committee) choose how to handle its Break Dancing competition?

Every country can not send 3 Break Dancers to the Olympics; there’d be too many participants.

So there has to be some system to narrow down the Break Dancers so that a manageable amount can compete.

And guess what – THERE IS JUST SUCH A SYSTEM IN PLACE.

See, smarter minds than mine have already figured it out.

To quote directly from Google:  All breakdancers must endure a tripartite qualifying route to earn a spot for the Games through the following tournaments: the 2023 WDSF World Championships, the continental championships (European Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games, African Championships, and Oceania Championships), and the four-month-long Olympic Qualifier Series.

There will be 16 men and 16 females chosen based on these competitions.

So it’s very possible that the USA might not even have a participant in The Olympic Breakdancing competition.

And if you are wondering how the breakdancing will be judged, they have that covered as well.

A panel of judges (and you know how I feel about judged sports) will tally a score based on 5 criteria: creativity, performance, variety, musicality and personality.

Yes, personality is a criteria.

So, I am guessing you could score the top scores in 4 of the criteria, but be a complete and total ass and not medal.

Um ….. okay I guess…..

I think I need to dig deeper into Olympic Breakdancing.

Stay tuned as I continue to look in the Olympic Breakdancing Experience.

That is 1 sentence I never thought I’d ever write.

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