12 Sep 2022 10:38
The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has named DanceSport England and Breaking GB as joint local organisers to host 2022 WDSF European Breaking Championships, to be held in Manchester, England, on November 5 and 6, 2022. With a rich sporting tradition and a reputation for attracting top international events, England was selected to replace Russia as the host nation.
As part of WDSF's decision to host this event, President Shawn Tay commented,
We are convinced that DanceSport England (DSE), Breaking GB and Manchester City Council will organize a world-class event together with admirable sporting values in a city celebrated for its prolific sports scene - Manchester.
Peter Maxwell, President of the DSE, stated
DSE is very proud to have helped and assisted Breaking GB in achieving this marvelous achievement. We were sure Breaking GB would be the perfect partner, amongst many available, to be the body able to deliver first-class results. DSE is delighted, through the presentation of the European Breaking Championships, that we were correct and our cooperation will continue to even greater success.
This occasion is not only an excellent opportunity to introduce Breaking to the British and European public prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, when the sport will debut as an Olympic Medal sport for the first time, but also a great opportunity to bring younger generations back into the sport.
The detailed qualification system for Breaking was announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July.
Find out additional information regarding the qualification path.
Photo credit: @littleshao
10 Aug 2022 17:00
The Olympic qualifying period for Breaking at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 is now under way, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having approved the timeframe of July 2022-June 2024. The qualification period will culminate in the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS), a new IOC-led Olympic qualifier series for Breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding, and sport climbing set to take place from March-June 2024, just a month out from the start of Paris 2024, which will run from 26 July to 11 August that year.
In total, 16 b-girls and 16 b-boys will compete in 1vs1 battles at Paris 2024. The 32 Breakers will qualify for the Olympic Games as follows:
Forty athletes in total will qualify to compete in the OQS.
They are:
The BfG Ranking List will be based on points accumulated at the Continental Championships and the Breaking for Gold Series, the latter of which begins this September and ends on 31 December 2023. For the BfG Series, the greatest number of ranking points will be awarded at the BfG World Series, followed by the BfG International Series, and finally the BfG Challenge Series. The Continental Championships, meanwhile, will be open to all Breakers with NMBs in each respective continent and will offer the same ranking points as the World Series.
The first event will be the WDSF Breaking For Gold Challenge Series in Montreal, Canada on 4 September 2022.
Direct qualifiers (i.e., World Championship and Continental Games) for the Olympic Games will be held in 2023. Winners of the 2023 European Games, Asian Games and Pan American Games will all qualify directly for Paris 2024, while the winners of Continental Championships in Africa and Oceania (still TBD) will also book their tickets to the French capital.
As certain countries around the world continue to place travel restrictions due to COVID-19, and in order to make qualifying events as convenient and accessible to as many Breakers as possible, the World DanceSport Federation decided to combine this year’s World Breaking Championship in Seoul, Republic of Korea with the WDSF Breaking for Gold World Series.
Unlike normal World Championships, which are limited to two athletes per gender per National Member Body, the combined event this October will be open to all Breakers, with qualifying points for the OQS up for grabs.
Following World Championship regulations, free accommodation will be offered to the four best athletes nominated by their National Member Bodies (NMBs). All other b-boys and b-girls nominated by their NMBs will be required to pay for their lodging.
Information on and assistance with hotel bookings will be provided by the local organizer. For additional information about the event, please contact: InSun Yoo kfd2050@naver.com or +82-10-4059-7656
05 Aug 2022 16:47
Following the online information session held on 4th Aug 2022, you can find a copy of the PowerPoint presentation from the session here.
Please note that the source of truth for the Olympic Games Qualification System can be found in this document here (Click on «Qualification V» at the bottom of the page).
Shortly, the official document with all details of the “Road to Paris 2024” Qualification System will be published on the WDSF website.
21 Jul 2022 18:16
The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has entered a partnership with the International Testing Agency (ITA) and delegated its clean sport program to the independent anti-doping organisation. A two-year contract between the world governing body for DanceSport and the ITA marks the start of this collaboration.
With the aim to invest in an independent and expert-led anti-doping program for its athletes, WDSF has entered an initial two-year partnership with the ITA. Within the
framework of this collaboration, the international federation has delegated its entire anti-doping program for independent management by the ITA as of the beginning of June 2022.
The ITA will carry out a comprehensive risk assessment of the various dance disciplines, which in turn will feed into the test distribution planning of in- and out-of-competition doping controls, also implemented by the ITA. The administration of the Athlete Biological Passports (ABPs) of DanceSport athletes and the handling of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) will also be managed by the independent anti-doping body. The ITA will furthermore enhance the anti-doping efforts of WDSF with a long-term sample storage strategy that enables the storage and re-analysis of selected samples for
up to ten years after the collection date.
To provide DanceSport athletes with the most comprehensive anti-doping program possible, the ITA will lead investigations and the collection of intelligence for WDSF, as well as the possibility for the confidential sharing of information through its doping reporting platform REVEAL.
All clean sport activities on behalf of WDSF will be carried out by the ITA in strict
compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code and its International Standards, with ITA’s
dedicated Regulatory Compliance Unit ensuring full alignment with all mandatory
rules. Any potential anti-doping rule violations stemming from its anti-doping efforts will be
subject to independent results management by the ITA.
The ITA will also raise awareness about doping, support clean sport values and contribute to doping prevention among DanceSport athletes with the establishment of a four-year education plan in compliance with the WADA International Standard for Education.
"We are excited to support DanceSport athletes with a comprehensive and independently-led clean sport program and thank the WDSF for their trust and partnership," said Benjamin Cohen, Director General of the ITA.
"DanceSport has continued to professionalise in recent years and breaking will debut as an Olympic discipline in Paris 2024 - this is the perfect time to invest in an expert-led anti-doping program and we look forward to supporting WDSF athletes across all dancing disciplines."
WDSF President Shawn Tay said:
“The WDSF warmly welcomes this new agreement with the ITA, which further bolsters the considerable efforts we have already made in the fight against doping in DanceSport, including our ambitious multi-year anti-doping education programme launched last December called Dance Clean. The partnership with the ITA is a logical and powerful next step, and we look forward to making great strides in this area in the coming years thanks to their expertise,
technical knowhow, and professional support.”
For the sake of absolute independence, the WDSF Managing Committee has recommended transferring the oversight of any potential anti-doping cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS)’s Anti-Doping Division (ADD). A final decision on the matter is expected to be taken by
the WDSF Presidium and WDSF General Assembly at their next meetings, since such a
proposal requires the modification of the WDSF Statutes.
12 Jul 2022 18:06
DanceSport celebrated a fantastic worldwide exposure last week. The Legacy Arena and Sloss Furnaces venue were packed with fans and enthusiasts as four DanceSport disciplines took the center stage in Birmingham, AL (USA).
Breaking had another successful debut among the World Sports family, this time at the Sloss Furnaces venue with sold out tickets. Breaking Athletes from Japan and the host country USA dominated the medal rankings as Ami (JPN), Sunny (USA) and Ayumi (JPN) took home the medals in b-girls section and Victor (USA), Jeffro (USA) and Shigekix (JPN) were awarded the first ever World Games medals for b-boys. Total of 16 b-girls and 16 b-boys around the world enjoyed the ambience and the positive heath of the event and demonstrated their best athletic skills, dynamics and explosive strength for the American crowd. Breaking will make its formal debut at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Our Standard and Latin disciplines appeared already for the seventh time on the programme of the World Games. It all started in Lahti (FIN) back in 1997, and now continued with a strong line-up of the finest couples of the moment.
Gabriele Goffredo – Anna Matus (MDA) secured their third consecutive Latin title at the World Games. The reigning WDSF Professional Division World Champions had a good and tight battle with the reigning WDSF Adult World Champion couple Marius-Andrei Balan – Khrystyna Moshenska (GER). Gabriele and Anna were ranked in front of the German couple by less than one point in final total scores. For Marius and Khrystyna it was their first time as dancers to compete at the Games. Charles-Guillaume Schmitt– Elena Salikhova (FRA) completed the podium with their third place and the bronze medals. They consecutively won three times the bronze medal. Andrea Silvestri – Martina Varadi(HUN) ranked 4th, Edgar Marcos Borjas – Alina Nowak (POL) ranked 5th and Ionut Alexandru Miculescu – Andra Pacurar(ROU) completed the spectacular final with their 6th place.
New names were carved on the table of honour of the World Games in the Standard discipline. The reigning World Champions Evaldas Sodeika – Ieva Zukauskaite (LTU) managed to keep up their consistent performance with their strong dancing. They were awarded with the title for the first time in their accelerating career. Francesco Galuppo – Debora Pacini (ITA) had another solid competition. They were the winners of the silver medals and make strong progression, as on the previous World Games in Wroclaw, Poland they finished on the 4th place. Vaidotas Lacitis – Veronika Golodneva (LTU) compete as Professionals in our PD division and were ranked 3rd in this competition followed by Tomas Fainsil – Violetta Fainsil from Germany, Dmitri Kolobov – Signe Busk from Denmark and Rares Cojoc – Andreea Matei from Romania, ranked from 4th to 6th in the final in respective order.
The American spectators were thrilled as the Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll couples showed their best at Legacy Arena. Having been on the sports programme of the World Games for the fourth time, the audience in Birmingham gasped as the athletic couples demonstrated their dancing skills and physical fitness with their mind-blowing tricks, throws and catches in front of their own eyes. Michelle Uhl – Tobias Bludau (GER) gave fantastic performances and nailed the title in Birmingham. Noëmi Kuran-Pellegatta – Nicolas Kuran-Pellegatta (SUI) had a top-ranked foot technique round and the couple won silver medals while Anna Sturm – MatthiasFeichtinger (AUT) completed the podium with their third place. Marie Dvorakova – Jiri Jakubec (CZE) ranked 4th, Emmie Delatorre - Guillaume Gabirol (FRA) ranked 5th and the line-up of the final was complete with Francesca Marletta – Simone Cavalera (ITA) on the 6th place.
The World Games is an 11-day international multi-sport event organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee. Traditionally organized the year following the Summer Olympic Games. The World Games 2022 showcase a new generation of Global Sports in Birmingham from July 7-17 2022. 3,600 elite athletes from over 100 countries compete for gold in more than 30 of the fastest growing sports in the world.