Paris 2024 Olympics: 3 Under The Radar Events You Should Watch
Paris 2024 will provide a chance for lesser-known competitions to take center stage. It will also give people a chance to learn about sports they rarely watch. For many of these sports, this is the one time they are able to be shown to a worldwide audience. Some are even popular in different regions of the world. But this is the chance to see the best athletes in the world compete against each other on the grandest stage of them all.
Read about three under the radar events you should watch at the 2024 Paris Olympics:
Archery
- Most Medals: South Korea (43 Medals, 27 Gold)
- Held in 1900-1908, 1920, 1972-Present
Archery has been a mainstay during the first week of the Olympic games since 1972. The Archery events include men’s individual, women’s individual, men’s team, women’s team, and mixed team matches. Archers and teams are seeded into a bracket after shooting 72 arrows during a ranking round. During the individual events, 64 archers compete while 12-16 countries compete in the three team events. The knockout matches can have up to five sets of three arrows for each bowman, who can earn a maximum score of 30 points (3 bullseyes). The set winner earns two points and in case of a tie, each archer or team gets one set point. The first to six set points wins the match.
Handball
- Most Medals: France (Men’s 5 Medals, 3 Gold) & Norway (Women’s 7 Medals, 2 Gold)
- Held in 1936, 1972-Present
France will kick off its gold medal defense in both the men’s and women’s tournaments for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games beginning on Thursday, July 25th. Which is actually one day before the Opening Ceremony. Two versions of the sport were played until 1966. That is when Indoor Handball replaced Field Handball. Indoor Handball is played on a court measuring 40m x 20m between two teams of seven players each. The rules are simple for this very physical sport… Players can take up to three steps without dribbling and can only hold the ball for a maximum of three seconds. Offensive strategies must be deployed because passive play is illegal. Players must possess endurance and strength for this sport which stresses teamwork and flexibility, as all players alternate between attack and defense. Twelve teams will compete in both the women’s and men’s tournaments in Paris.
Breaking aka Break Dancing
- Debuts at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Breaking debuted at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. It was chosen for Paris 2024 as a new sport. However, it will not return for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. 16 men and 16 women (known as “B-Boys” and “B-Girls”) will compete at the Olympics. Round robin play will be followed by quarterfinals, semifinals, and the medal battles. Each battle features a best-of-three in a one-on-one matchup of approximately one minute. Nine judges score on six criteria: Creativity, Personality, Technique, Variety, Performativity, and Musicality. Performativity & Creativity hold the most weight at 60% of the total score while the other categories account for 40%. Breaking is unique in that the breakers don’t know the music that will be played ahead of time.
Basketball, Track & Field and Gymnastics are the main events for the Summer Olympics. But these three under the radar events require skill and precision from their athletes in different ways. You will be entertained and compelled with what is required to win a medal for these lesser-known events.
Thank me later, and let me know which of these under the radar events you most looking forward to at Paris 2024 in the comments below.
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