How To Watch Breaking At The Olympics Online
| First event: Friday, August 9 at 10am ET / 7am PT |
| Final event: Saturday, August 10 at 2pm ET / 11am PT |
| Channel: NBC (US) | CBC (CA) | BBC One (UK) | Channel 9 (AU) |
| US stream: Peacock TV |
| FREE International streams: 9Now (AU) BBC iPlayer (UK) | CBC Gem (CA) |
| Watch anywhere: Stream with NordVPN |
Watch Breaking at the Olympics: Preview
Get ready to pop it, lock it, and unleash your best windmill! The dancesport of breaking – more commonly known as breakdancing – will get its official debut at the Paris Olympics on August 9 and 10. Featuring accomplished breakers from all over the world, prepare to be wowed as these B-Boys and B-Girls throw down audacious moves in a bid to win the event’s first-ever Olympic gold. Read our guide below for how to watch Breaking at the Olympics online from anywhere.
Combining dance, music, athletic ability and artistry, breaking emerged from the Bronx, New York City in the 1970s as an integral component of the culture of Hip Hop. It’s the latest Olympic event hoping to woo a younger demographic into sports, following on from Tokyo’s introduction of skateboarding and sports climbing at the Summer Games in 2021.
All breaking events will be hosted at Paris’s Place de la Concorde. The B-Girls competitions, including round robin, quarterfinal, and semifinal stages, will take place over one day on Friday, August 10, with the B-Boys events following the very next day on August 11. Routines are judged against criteria like technique, originality, and execution, as the competitors demonstrate their mastery of the dancesport to a Hip Hop soundtrack.
There are a few leading figures expected to dominate the Concorde. Of the 16 male athletes, US breaker Victor Montalvo is a favorite to take home the top trophy. He already won the gold in the 2023 World Championship, nudging former world champion Phil Wizard into second place. He’ll square off against Silver and Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai (“Shigekix”) again in Paris, amongst over a dozen others.
And who are the B-Girls looking to earn Olympic glory? There’s Japan’s Ayumi Fukushima, America’s Sunny Choi, and Lithuanian breaker Dominika Banevič (aka, “Nicka”). They’ll be showing their flair for power moves and fancy footwork alongside China’s 17-year-old Liu Qingyi. She could prove some tough competition, too, as she was the first woman to win gold in last year’s Asian Games.
Catch history in the making as breaking gets its moment in the spotlight (it’s reportedly not returning for 2028 Summer Games!). Find out everything you need to know with our guide, which explains how to watch Breaking at the Olympics online – and 100% free from anywhere.
Where to find the best free Paris 2024 Olympic Games coverage
There’s no shortage of options to watch Paris Olympic Games 2024 online. Australia surely offers the most in-depth coverage, with Channel 9 and 9Now promising 24-hour, around-the-clock live reporting via their dedicated Olympic channels. And 9Now is, thankfully, 100% free to use.
Meanwhile, there’s a wealth of coverage across the BBC and BBC iPlayer in the UK, and on CBC and CBC Gem in Canada. And both of these on-demand platforms are utterly free to use.
Other countries with free coverage include France on France Télévisions, ARD and ZDF in Germany, and RTE in Ireland.
Out of the country? We explain below how to use a VPN to port yourself home.
How to watch Breaking at the Olympics online from anywhere
If you're abroad on vacation or working overseas, you can still watch Breaking at the Olympics just as you would at home.
While streaming services like Peacock restrict access from IP addresses outside of their licensed country, there's a piece of software called a VPN which can change your IP address to make it look like you're accessing streaming services from any country in the world.
For example, US citizens vacationing anywhere in the world can subscribe to a VPN, join a US-based server and watch Breaking at the Olympics on Peacock from anywhere in the world, just like they would back home.
How to use a VPN to unblock streaming services:
1. Choose your ideal VPN and install – our go-to recommendation for unblocking is NordVPN, costing from $3.99 a month with its 2-year plan
2. Connect to a server – for BBC iPlayer, for example, you'll want to connect to a server based in the UK.
3. Go to the stream you wish to access - for Breaking at the Olympics, head to BBC iPlayer.
How to watch Breaking at the Olympics online FREE in Australia
You can watch Breaking at the Olympics from August 10 to August 11 in Australia. The women’s qualifiers take place first, airing live early Saturday from 12am AEST, while from 4am AEST the semifinals head swiftly up to the medal-winning event. B-Boys like Australia's J-Attack will compete on Sunday, August 11, following the same timings as the previous day.
See the Channel Nine TV schedule here for further information.
A free streaming option for cord-cutters is 9Now. Providing 40 channels of live and on-demand programming, the Australian streaming service is completely FREE. All you need to do is create an account using your email and password.
Alternatively, purchasing the Stan Sport add-on on top of a basic Stan plan might be tempting for avid followers of the Olympics. Stan Sport provides a HD, ad-free experience for starters. Plus, it provides eight exclusive international Olympics channels to boot. New subscribers can get their base plan free for the first 30-days (beginning from AU$12 for Stan Basic), but Stan Sport is charged at AU$15 a month, with no free trial period available.
An Aussie out of the country? If you find yourself abroad when Breaking at the Olympics takes place, subscribe to a VPN to access regional services like 9Now or Stan and continue streaming like you were right back home.
How to watch Breaking at the Olympics online FREE in the UK
In the UK, you can watch Breaking at the Olympics online thanks to the BBC. The dancesport will get its Olympic debut across Friday, August 9 and Saturday, August 10, beginning from 3pm BST on each day. See below for the full schedule of breaking events.
While the BBC will air over 250 hours of Olympic coverage, following Warner Brothers Discovery’s purchase of the European TV rights to the Olympics, you might not find comprehensive coverage of each discipline in every qualifying round. However, BBC One promises extensive reports from the Olympics for the majority of the day, though halting coverage for the news.
The dates and times of Olympics BBC broadcasts can be found here.
And if you want to find online coverage of Breaking at the Olympics, BBC iPlayer allows UK viewers to stream all the action live and on-demand, in addition to providing a curated digital channel dubbed Olympics Extra. BBC iPlayer is compatible on a range of devices and, better still, it’s absolutely FREE to watch. To create a BBC account, all you need is an email address and a UK postcode (e.g. B1A 1AA), in addition to a valid TV licence.
NB: If you’re a UK citizen traveling abroad, you can subscribe to a VPN to access a regionally-restricted service like BBC iPlayer and stream Breaking at the Olympics online just as you would back home.
How to watch Breaking at the Olympics in the US
Excited to watch Breaking at the Olympics online? Catch every event on NBC from Friday, August 9. The B-Girls will square off first with qualifiers at 10am ET / 7am PT, before semifinals and Olympic medal-winning events later in the day. Subsequently, the B-Boy competitions take place throughout Saturday, August 10, with the same timings as the previous day’s events.
For the full schedule of Olympic breaking events across linear TV and streaming in the US, see here.
For cord-cutters, Peacock is the official streaming home of the Games, and a Peacock subscription will let you watch Breaking at the Olympics online and a lot more besides. This starts from $7.99 a month for Peacock Premium / $79.99 a year, or, get Premium Plus at $13.99 a month / $139.99 a year, and cut the commercials. With a 12 month annual plan, you’ll save and only pay for the equivalent of 10 months. Even better, if you’re a student, a monthly subscription only costs $1.99 a month.
As well as all the action from the Paris 2024 Olympics, Peacock offers Sunday Night Football, WWE, and a wealth of other live sporting events. You can watch Peacock original series like Apples Never Fall and John Wick-prequel The Continental, NBC dramas past and present, like The Blacklist, Law & Order and Yellowstone, plus it's also the home of hit reality TV shows like Love Island Games.
Great budget offering Sling TV offers dozens of channels, and from only $20 for your first month. You'll need the Sling Blue plan to stream NBC and USA content, and therefore watch the best of the 2024 Paris Olympics live online.
Alternatively, FuboTV is a comprehensive, though pricier, cable-replacement service. In addition to NBC, it's got heaps of sports coverage and a varied selection of channels – including ABC, ESPN, USA, FX and Telemundo.
The platform’s entry-level Pro plan comes packed with over 140 channels for a very reasonable $79.99 a month – and that’s only after you’ve enjoyed its FREE FuboTV trial deal.
How to watch Breaking at the Olympics online FREE in Canada
Receiving its Olympic debut, breaking will take place on August 9 and August 10, and viewers with cable can watch Breaking at the Olympics on the CBC channel in Canada. On both days, qualifiers start from 10am ET / 7am PT, with the semifinals held at 2:45pm ET / 11:45 PT before the gold-medal-winning final battle.
Check your local listings here for broadcast dates and times.
For cord-cutters, watch Breaking at the Olympics online with CBC Gem. Gem offers live streams of multiple channels, a round-the-clock Olympic Channel, and on-demand content. It’s 100% free to use, simply sign-up by creating an account.
If you’re currently vacationing abroad, you can subscribe to a VPN to access Canada-specific services and stream Breaking at the Olympics just as you would from home.
Full schedule of breaking events at the Olympics
- August 9: B-Girls Pre-Qualifier Battle (16:00 CEST / 10:00 ET / 7:00 PT)
- August 9: B-Girls Round Robin (16:00 CEST / 10:00 ET / 7:00 PT)
- August 9: B-Girls Quarterfinals (20:00 CEST / 14:00 ET / 11:00 PT)
- August 9: B-Girls Semifinals (20:45 CEST / 14:45 ET / 11:45 PT)
- August 9: B-Girls Finals (21:15 CEST / 15:15 ET / 13:15 PT)
- August 10: B-Boys Round Robin (16:00 CEST / 10:00 ET / 7:00 PT)
- August 10: B-Boys Quarterfinals (20:00 CEST / 14:00 ET / 11:00 PT)
- August 10: B-Boys Semifinals (20:45 CEST / 14:45 ET / 11:45 PT)
- August 10: B-Boys Finals (21:15 CEST / 15:15 ET / 13:15 PT)
Where can I watch Breaking at the Olympics?
Depending on where in the world you’re based, you’ll find live or on-demand coverage of Breaking at the Olympics – and most of it 100% free to watch. That’s courtesy of NBC and Peacock in the US, and CBC and CBC Gem in Canada. For UK viewers, the BBC is the dedicated home of the Paris 2024 Olympics, while Channel Nine and 9Now offer almost around-the-clock coverage and commentary.
Where will the breaking events take place?
Every breaking event will be held at La Concorde Urban Park over two days, situated at the end of the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The park will also be the venue for other hip, trendy Olympic events, like skateboarding and BMX freestyle.
