Seeing this video I am 100 % convinced that break dance battles are the most wholesome form of direct competition. These two athletes treating each other with respect and fun while competing against each other for Olympic gold ist just amazing.

Holy crap, he looked like when the character physics glitch out in a video game, but under control at the same time.

Holy shit, their whole routines are improvised. They hadn't heard the music before.

I am fucking floored.

That was amazing!

The performance was amazing, the announcers sucked.

When I watch any Olympic competition I have never seen before I have some idea what is going on because the announcers make a point of saying who these people are, why a move is difficult/impressive, what the requirements are, and why deductions might happen.

Here all I heard was "YA BOOOOOOYYYYYYY!" through the entire performance, with a brief mention of an error made by France but I have no idea what that error actually was.

I don't know, I think he was more into changing into animals and raping humans.

Was awesome. It’s not going to return. This guy will go down as undefeated which is a silver lining I suppose.

On the CBC coverage they didn't use anyone's real names, it was all just dance names.

I thought it was super entertaining compared to something like running or high jump. If anyone doubts these people's athleticism, just watch and you'll change your mind.

It's just as much a sport as figure skating or synchronised swimming.

I really hate this take, the Olympics isn't just about physical sports, it's also about human skill, and determination. Both of which can be found in many different areas of expertise, including dancing. Not that the average person could even do this without a certain baseline level of fitness.

Because it takes a shit ton of skill and has been competitive since it started in the late 60s. Yes, it goes that far back.

Can you do it?

Because it's incredibly athletic, which is what the Olympics is all about

idk dude, how does anything get to be an olympic sport? it gets popular enough and the olympic committee thinks it'll draw a crowd and decides to include it. it's not like there aren't several other dance sports in the games already.

When you've got those kinds of abs, you have to give the crowd what they want.

I think its a way to argue that sports developed by certain groups shouldn't be allowed in the Olympics because then those who didn't traditionally develop said sport might compete in them. It results in exclusion, which is worse than the risk of cultural appropriation IMO.

Cultural appropriation is bullshit is what I think. Let people adapt and improvise. Anything else is pure conservatism.

I'm not convinced cultural appropriation, in the pejorative sense, is a valid concept. In all the examples of cultural appropriation I've seen that I agree are bad, there's a better way to explain why it's bad. For example, wearing Native American headdresses isn't bad because a white person does it; it's bad because it's something you have to earn, like a medal, and the white people using it as a costume haven't earned it. It would be equally disrespectful for a Native American to do the same thing.