브레이킹, 파리 올림픽 정식 종목 채택... 한국 메달 전망 밝아
Breaking elite breakdancing will make its Olympics debut at Paris 2024... becoming the first DanceSport event to appear at an Olympic Games, having been staged at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires two years ago.
And South Korea, one of the best B-boy nations out there, is looking to come home from Paris with a gold medal.
Our Han Seong-woo met up with the Koreans hoping to nurture the country's potential medal winners.
From the streets of New York to the grandest stage in sports.
'Breaking', also known as breakdancing, or B-boying, will make its official Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
And South Korea's top dance crew believes the country can take home the world's first Olympic gold medal in breaking.
"I'd say we have a 50 percent chance of bringing home gold. Those are great odds. I mean... it's like flipping a coin."
As well as running Jinjo Crew, Kim Heon-jun is also vice chair of the newly formed breaking committee in the Korean Federation of DanceSport,
The committee will oversee the athlete registration process and the organization of the national team... leading up to 2024.
"We plan on formally requesting the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee to include breaking as a competitive event at the annual National Sports Festival."
The Paris games will have two gold medals at stake: one for b-boys and one for b-girls.
16 dancers in each event will battle it out, one on one, to determine who is best.
Breakdancing legend Kim Heon-woo, who goes by the stage name "Wing", has been a judge at international competitions and expects the Olympics to be judged on criteria such as fundamentals, originality and musicality.
''Above all, I believe the dancer who can flawlessly execute all of their moves will come out on top."
Bboyrankingz.com currently ranks South Korea at number two in the world and has two Korean dancers, Wing and Hong10, ranked in the top five individuals ... raising hopes that, with proper support from the government, the gold medal is within reach.
"Looking back at all we've won, we had always thought to ourselves, 'If this were the Olympics, we'd be national heroes'... But now that it's a reality, the time has come for breakdancers to finally shine."
"With their eyes on the top prize, B-boys and B-girls nationwide will be training their hearts out for the next three and a half years, hoping for a shot at Olympic glory."
Han Seong-woo, Arirang News.
