'What is this, 1986?': Mixed reactions as breakdancing among considerations for Olympic addition

Sports such as breakdancing, skateboarding, surfing, and sport climbing have moved a step closer to Olympic ratification as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended them for provisional inclusion in the Paris Games.

Stating the case to include these sports, IOC President Thomas Bach said that it would make the Summer Games in 2024 "more gender balanced, more youthful and more urban" while also "offer[ing] the opportunity to connect with the young generation."

"We decided to recommend the four sports [for ratification] to the IOC session in June in Lausanne," IOC President Thomas Bach said at a press conference.

"It is a provisional inclusion because the final decision should only be taken at the end of 2020."

Surfing, climbing, and skateboarding will be part of the schedule at the Tokyo Games in 2020 and it is understood that the reception to them will be instrumental in including breakdancing amongst the schedule four years later.

"There will be a meeting in November 2020 and a board meeting in December where the final decision should be taken. In the meantime there is a monitoring programme... to see how they perform, to look at governance, integrity of competitions, refereeing and judging system," Bach continued.

Organizers of the Paris Games say that they want to deliver a sporting program which will "inspire new audiences" and "which can be played anywhere and anytime in urban and other environments."

Newly instituted IOC rules say that host cities can implement new sports to the Olympic program if they are of great popularity in that country, as part of a policy to increase interest in the Olympics from fans, broadcasters and sponsors alike.

As one might expect the reaction to breakdancing being considered an Olympic sport has been somewhat mixed, with dozens of people taking to social media to express their confusion.