The Olympic Games feature sports that date back to the event’s Ancient Greek origins, but more modern competitions are seeping in.

This year, breakdancing makes its debut as an Olympic sport.

Officially referred to as ‘breaking’ in Paris, the addition is part of a push by the International Olympic Committee to draw in younger audiences and ensure the Games remain relevant.

The breaking event will see 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls face-off in solo improvised dance battles to music chosen by a DJ in a temporary open arena at Paris’ Place de la Concorde.

Two Australians will be among the first athletes to compete in the Olympic event: 16-year-old high school student Jeff ‘J-Attack’ Dunne and 36-year-old Macquarie University researcher Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn.

“I train hard, four to six hours every day, working on style, the way I move, working on routines and trying to upgrade my dynamic ability,” Dunne told SBS.

“It feels like so much hard work and dedication – trying to get better and showing who I am through dance – has paid off.”

Each battle round will last one minute, and dancers will be judged on technique, vocabulary (variety of moves they perform), execution, musicality and originality.

La Concorde will also host fellow “urban” events that are relatively new to the Olympics: 3X3 basketball, BMX freestyle, and skateboarding.

Read on to find out about the latest additions to the Olympics.

3X3 basketball

Basketball debuted as an Olympic sport in 1936, and the 3X3 event has been a part of the program only since Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 due to a Covid delay).

Rooted in informal street basketball games, a 3X3 basketball game involves two teams with three players each.

Playing on one half of a basketball court, the teams attack and defend the same hoop, depending on who has possession of the ball.

Australia’s 3×3 women’s players: Lauren Mansfield, Marena Whittle, Alex Wilson and Anneli Maley. Photo: Getty

The winner is the team with the highest score at the end of 10 minutes, or the first team to reach 21 points.

The Olympic event is played with a live DJ playing music in the background.

Australia will be represented in the event for the first time by the Gangurrus, a women’s 3×3 basketball team that won the Asia Cup earlier this year.

BMX freestyle

This sport, which debuted in Tokyo in 2020, involves riders performing as many tricks as possible in 60 seconds.

Scoring is based on difficulty, height of jumps, and creativity and style of routines.

BMX freestyle developed from BMX racing, a sport that emerged in California in the late 1960s.

The main difference is instead of a standard course race, freestyle BMX riders compete on various terrains ranging from skateparks to dirt ramps.

Standard BMX racing became an Olympic sport at Beijing in 2008.

The 25-strong Australian cycling team in Paris includes six BMX and mountain bike athletes.

British rider Declan Brooks trains for BMX freestyle. Photo: Getty

Skateboarding

Another sport that debuted at Tokyo 2020, Olympic skateboarding involves athletes competing in two disciplines: Park and street.

The park competition has a course that combines bowls and bends, which skateboarders use to gather speed and perform tricks mid-air.

They are judged by the height and speed of their tricks, as well as their capacity to use the entire surface and all obstacles.

Street events are held on a straight course with typical street-style additions such as stairs and handrails, which skateboarders use to perform tricks and show off control of their board.

Overall, skateboarders must meet criteria for degree of difficulty, speed, and range of moves.

Nine Australians will compete for Australia in skateboarding at Paris, ranging in age from 14 to 34.

Sport climbing

Debuting at Tokyo 2020, sport climbing is practised by millions of people around the world, and more than 300,000 in Australia.

Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie competes in the women’s sport climbing speed qualification during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo: Getty

At the Olympics, sport climbing involves three formats on artificial walls: Bouldering, speed and lead.

In bouldering, athletes climb 4½-metre walls without ropes within a limited time period and in the fewest attempts possible.

In speed, climbers race one-on-one against the clock, and the lead event involves athletes climbing as high as they can on a wall more than 15 metres high in six minutes without having seen the route ahead of time.

In Tokyo, the sport was conducted as a combined event of bouldering, speed and lead. This year, the format has been changed to a combined bouldering and lead event, and a separate speed event.

Two athletes will represent Australia in sport climbing this year.

Surfing

Calls for surfing to be included in the Olympics began in the 1920s, but they weren’t successful until Tokyo 2020.

Surfers perform manoeuvres and tricks on a wave and are scored based on the variety, type and difficulty of the tricks.

Surfers are also judged on speed, power and flow (how seamlessly they connect one move to the next).

Each surfer is allowed to catch as many waves as they can within the set time. Their two highest scores are totalled for a final score.

Four surfers will represent Australia at the Paris Olympics’ surfing event, which will be held in Tahiti.