No U.S. Breakers to Be Included in 2018 Youth Olympic Games

Recently the news of “No US bboys allowed in the 2018 Youth Olympics” has sparked a lot of conversation..here’s what we know so far…

UPDATE NUMBER #1

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) provided notice today that it does not plan to include any breakers in the U.S. delegation to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. This is because each country is limited to 75 athletes in individual sports in the Youth Olympic Games, and the USOC prioritizes slots for those sports which are part of the full Olympic Games. Consequently, even if a breaker from the U.S. were to qualify for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games through the www.breakingforgold.com qualifying process set up by the WDSF, he or she would not be eligible to attend, because the USOC makes the final decisions as to which U.S. athletes will be included in the Youth Olympic Games. The presumption is that the USOC’s decision is a final one, and there is no current information available to suggest that the USOC will change the decision. If the USOC does change its decision, then U.S. breakers would be eligible, assuming they were to qualify. The 2018 Youth Olympic Games are limited to 12 male and 12 female breakers, all born between 2000 and 2002, with no more than one male and one female breaker from any country.

UPDATE NUMBER #2
The U.S. youth breakers who have qualified for Stage 2 at the Silverback Open in Philadelphia (October 6-8, 2017) will be flown in free (along with a parent/guardian) for the entire Silverback Open event and for a training camp prior to the event, and they will be put up in a hotel. To clarify, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) did not choose to add breaking into the 2018 Youth Olympics – that decision was made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Just as is the case for other countries around the world, the USOC is unfortunately in the position that it will need to make very difficult and unpopular choices impacting athletes in many sports, because of fact that the IOC has a cap of 75 athletes per country for individual sports for the 2018 Youth Olympics. Consequently, many sports are not going to be represented by US athletes at the 2018 Youth Olympics, including some sports which are already a part of the full Olympics. Although the USOC has indicated that it does not plan to include any breakers in the October 2018 Youth Olympics (providing notice now instead of waiting until the last minute), the final decisions for each country will be made around June of 2018. There is at least some possibility that the USOC may adjust its plans, although there is no current indication that the USOC will change its decision and decide to add breakers to its 2018 Youth Olympics delegation.

While it’s very unfortunate, we in the USA community have to keep optimistic as things could change from now till June 2018. UDEF is stepping up and giving the USA bboys that qualified (to Youth Olympics) a free trip + hotel to Silverback Open 2017. We are sure the bboys will be very happy since SB Open is one of the biggest breaking events in the world!

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