FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The newest Olympic sport, breaking, made its debut during this year's games, and some local breakers are weighing in on what this means for the sport.
With the sport taking the international stage this week in Paris, it's caused an increased interest in breaking here at home.
5NEWS caught up with a local group of breakers based out of Northwest Arkansas as their sport enters the Olympic spotlight for the first time.
"When I first heard about it, I thought this is a very special thing for hip hop in general. All the breakers here, breakers around the nation, it's something that's now going to be seen on a higher level," said Van Dang, a member of Classic Flow.
"This aspect of this actually coming to the Olympics, it's so exciting. It's very cool for the culture," Van Dang added.
Breaking Habits, a crew based in Fayetteville, has been gathering people from around the area to take part in breaking, growing in popularity and even opening for the Wu-Tang Clan at the Momentary in 2023.
Chuoung Nguyen, a member of their crew, says that breaking is more than just a sport, but an art.
"I would say breaking, it's really just a way of expressing yourself in this amalgamation of all these dance styles. When you see some of the moves breakers do, it resembles a lot of dance styles that came before," Nguyen explained. "It's an art form."
The Paris games has witnessed some high energy competition among its fields of dancers. Japan won the women's gold medal on Aug. 9, and the men's breaking competition is soon to follow.
A panel of judges from around the world scored the breakers based on technique, execution, and originality.
While the sport and its fans celebrated its debut in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the future of its spot in the iconic games is unclear.
Currently, breaking is not included in the schedule for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles.
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