The Olympics are moving. The global campaign “Let’s Move Street Challenge” launched on September 22 and ended on November 12 aimed to challenge young fans of urban sports (BMX freestyle, skateboarding and breakdancing) through a video of thirty seconds, showcasing their sporting prowess, their “best tricks” and their creativity. More than 3,200 people from 83 countries took part in this first Olympic “street” challenge with more than 14,000 votes for the fan prize. Sports that will be in full light in Paris, on the Place de la Concorde, next summer.
“The ambition for urban sports is relatively simple: to bring together the elite and the street. These sports live through great performances, we experienced it in Tokyo (in 2021) for the first time, we will experience it in Paris. What we see is that these sports and these athletes live through digital technology and form extremely coherent, extremely powerful communities. If we want to have an impact, if we want to stay relevant, we must bring together both digital and the real world. It is also to say to these young people: “You see, the emotions that you want to transmit, we give you a sounding board that you do not have anywhere else.” It is a great pride for the IOC to be able to do that,” explains Christophe Dubi, director of the Olympic Games at the IOC.
Before slipping: “The relevance of the sports program is based on century-old sports and new additions which give the Olympic Games event this anchor in the past and allow it to remain totally modern. Whether we’re talking about Greco-Roman wrestling or BMX freestyle, there is one thing that unites us in sport and at the Olympic Games, and that is the fundamental values that make this event totally unique. Urban sports will be at the Los Angeles Games (in 2028) too, with skateboarding, BMX and sport climbing but not in the same setting as in Paris. The additional sports offered by Los Angeles (flag football, American football without tackle, lacrosse, baseball-softball, cricket in a simplified version and squash) make sense in this American context. They are less urban but they are deeply American and for some, deeply international.”