DanceSport on programme of YOG

In its meeting of 6 December 2016, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to add the DanceSport discipline Breakdance to the programme of the Buenos Aires 2018 YOG. This was announced by the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF). “Millions of dancers around the world will be delighted over this Olympic embrace,” WDSF President Lukas Hinder said upon learning of the decision. “It certainly is the fulfilment of a long-held dream and it will allow us to showcase the full breadth of DanceSport to the world at large.”

Nearly two decades after it was recognised by the 106th IOC Session that was held in Lausanne, SUI, the WDSF received the news of one of its disciplines making it to the programme of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games (BAYOG) in the same city.

Having gone full circle with its ambition to see dancers compete alongside the other athletes for the most coveted medals in sports, WDSF reaches this milestone with the satisfaction of a job well done by those who campaigned over many years. And it does so with the conviction that its small contingent of athletes and officials will deliver on what is pledged by putting on great competitions at the Urban Park venue in early October 2018.

The members of BAYOGOC and, later on, the Coordination Commission for the games found Breakdance to fit their vision and to match the particular YOG DNA best. An assessment that has now been confirmed by the IOC Executive Board’s decision to approve the quota of 24 athletes competing in three events (Men, Women, Mixed Team) in Buenos Aires 2018.

Over the years, DanceSport developed into an all-encompassing brand made up of very different styles and forms of moving to music. Right after it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, WDSF embarked on successive restructuring and development programmes that aimed, and continue to aim, to broaden the scope of the sport further, making it more accessible, more ageless, more global and more relevant. Now Breakdance is about to make its première in the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. DanceSport does fit everywhere. After all, it is performed to THE RHYTHM OF TIME!

A milestone in this quest was reached when WDSF organised the first edition of its proprietary World DanceSport Games in Kaohsiung, TPE, back in 2013. Medals in over a dozen different disciplines were contested by nearly 800 athletes representing 48 nations. Four contrasting DanceSport disciplines will be on the programme of The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, POL: Latin, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Salsa and Standard. 

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