Riding the Olympic Wave: Breakthrough Sports showcased the six new Olympic sports and disciplines of 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing.
The dramatic arrival of these events, first at Tokyo 2020 and then at Paris 2024, where breaking debuted, represents the biggest transformation of the Olympic sports program in recent times.
The featured sports all evolved out of youth culture and have developed their own unique environments of art, fashion, film and design. The exhibition included a series of artistic installations and programming that highlighted the close ties between contemporary art, culture and sport.
Riding the Olympic Wave was on show at the National Museum of Australia from 31 May to 30 September 2024.
Jump in and explore the energy and passion of these new sports and the athletes, including many Aussies, who are excelling at them.
Youth-focused disciplines
Sometimes described as urban sports or even extreme sports, these youth-focused disciplines spontaneously broke away from traditional sports practices and spread internationally in the 1960s and 1970s.
The common denominator between these sports is a grassroots evolution that took place as a result of young people developing their own modes of play, creativity and competition within their communities. Their philosophy and lifestyle are often starkly different from other sports.
Learn more
Discover more about Australia's top athletes in these new Olympic sports.
This blog post explores the design process behind the Olympic torch.
Australia and the Olympic Games
Acknowledgements
Riding the Olympic Wave: Breakthrough Sports was developed in partnership by the National Museum of Australia and the Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland.
The exhibition is supported by the Australian Olympic Committee.
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