Back in 1920, three-time Olympic champion in swimming, Duke Kahanamoku, started a campaign to get the sport of surfing its start in the Olympic Games. After much work, the sport made its first appearance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and will be part of the events in 2024 again with Teahupo’o in Tahiti. The sport is scored by five judges who look for maneuvers and tricks that get more points based on their difficulty of execution.

Originating in the United States during the 1970s, breakdancing is marked by acrobatic difficulty, impressive foot maneuvers, and a central emphasis on the relationships between DJs and performers at block parties in the Bronx. Competitions on an international scale exploded onto the scene in the 1990s, and the craze for hip-hop dance moved through urban communities to the masses by promoting this electrifying sport to the mainstream and general public. During the games this summer, the dancers are scored on a combination of creativity, performance, variety, musicality, and personality. During the Paris 2024 Games, Place de la Concorde will stage the urban sport at the heart of the city of love.

In the last two decades, sport climbing has seen a huge surge in popularity. This youthful, mixed-age sport, attracts climbers of all ages and skill levels. Climbers hone their skills both outdoors and in urban, indoor environments. There are already over 25 million climbers in approximately 150 countries worldwide. At the Olympic Games, sport climbing is a competition that includes bouldering, speed climbing, and lead climbing. In bouldering, competitors ascend as many fixed routes as possible within a specified time, typically without a safety rope, which is the norm in other competition formats. They are allowed to observe—and scout—each route for a few minutes before firing themselves at the wall. Speed climbing is a race to the top on a specific route, while lead climbing involves longer routes, higher walls, and timed ascents.

Skateboarding emerged in the US during the 1950s as part of the youthsports culture, just as surfing was starting to get its start. It then flourished in the 1980s underground as part of the counterculture, representing values such as freedom, rebellion, and the zeal for danger. The world’s best skateboarders will go to the Olympic Games this summer, battling it out in the most desirable and eye-catching discipline of the sport: park and street. The athletes will perform their most spectacular and hardest tricks, and the winner will be crowned based on three criteria: degree of difficulty, speed, and variety of tricks.This summer, the future Olympic skateboarding arena will be "La Concorde Urban Park.”