WUG

Breaking: the stuff other Olympic sports wish they had

Breaking: the stuff other Olympic sports wish they had

BUDAPEST — Nine years ago in Vancouver, Yuna Kim performed the most ethereal, languid, beautiful free skate imaginable. To George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, she seemed to float above the ice, languid, beautiful, an artist expressing herself physically the way the greatest of the great painters, sculptors, architects and others have revealed their genius in art that moves the soul.

Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you breakdancing, or in Olympic jargon, breaking, the Summer Games heir to the very thing Yuna Kim did so elegantly at the Winter Games, on full display here Friday and Saturday at these inaugural World Urban Games, bound for the global spotlight at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and yo, feel the jam, people. 

Yuna Kim danced. It was just on ice.

What do you think this is?

Get over yourself if you don’t think otherwise.

No argument: Budapest as "beautiful, wonderful" global sport capital

No argument: Budapest as "beautiful, wonderful" global sport capital

BUDAPEST — Journalists are incessant what-ifers and how-abouters. And here was Balázs Fürjes, who oversaw the Budapest bid for the 2024 Summer Games and is an increasingly influential and important personality in the Olympic movement, briefing a bunch of journalists on a spectacularly sunny  Friday as the first events of the World Urban Games got underway.

The topic: Budapest as — like Fürjes — increasingly influential and important player in the Olympic scene.

Consider: 2017 FINA swim championships, widely acknowledged as best-ever. Coming up for sure: 2023 IAAF track and field championships. 2027 FINA champs, again. Keen interest in: 2025 FIG gymnastics championships. Along with so much more, including this inaugural edition of WUG, with roughly 300 athletes from 48 nations across five continents.

All in one go: sport, music, art, street culture, and finally

All in one go: sport, music, art, street culture, and finally

BUDAPEST — As ever, the International Olympic Committee speaks in code, and though this very first edition of the World Urban Games is not — repeat, not — an IOC event, you’d have to maybe be one of those people who doesn’t understand why breakdancing is the next big Olympic thing to see that the IOC believes WUG is an idea whose time is, like, now.

Also, that Budapest is a very cool city and, beyond that, that they have proven here to be super-responsible and trustworthy and get stuff done, even — especially — on short notice, which tells you they’re people you want to work with, and, you know, hmm.