--- title: Why This Olympic DJ Does Not Consider Breaking a Sport description: "Don't get me wrong, there is incredible athleticism to it. But that doesn't make it a sport per se," says DJ Fleg. canonical: https://time.com/7009476/olympic-dj-stephen-fleg-does-not-consider-breaking-a-sport/ author: Sean Gregory article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-08-09T13:38:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:20.537Z article:section: Sports og:title: Why This Olympic DJ Does Not Consider Breaking a Sport og:description: "Don't get me wrong, there is incredible athleticism to it. But that doesn't make it a sport per se," says DJ Fleg. og:url: https://time.com/7009476/olympic-dj-stephen-fleg-does-not-consider-breaking-a-sport/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd4d974dbfd1c40d/698a59b7db29874e1326bf52/GettyImages-2165140435.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: BREAKING-OLY-PARIS-2024-TRAINING og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why This Olympic DJ Does Not Consider Breaking a Sport twitter:description: "Don't get me wrong, there is incredible athleticism to it. But that doesn't make it a sport per se," says DJ Fleg. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd4d974dbfd1c40d/698a59b7db29874e1326bf52/GettyImages-2165140435.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why This Olympic DJ Does Not Consider Breaking a Sport > Sponsored content. 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TIME's senior sports correspondent Sean Gregory tries his hand at several Olympic sports while learning from Olympians._  by [Sean Gregory / Paris](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory / Paris Senior Correspondent Aug 9, 2024 1:38 PM UTC  Canada's Philip Kim, known as b-boy Phil Wizard, practices during a breaking training session for the Paris Olympic Games at the Pablo Neruda sport centre in Saint-Ouen on Aug. 6, 2024. Canada's Philip Kim, known as b-boy Phil Wizard, practices during a breaking training session for the Paris Olympic Games at the Pablo Neruda sport centre in Saint-Ouen on Aug. 6, 2024. Jeff Pachoud—Getty Images  by [Sean Gregory / Paris](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory / Paris Senior Correspondent Aug 9, 2024 1:38 PM UTC One of the men behind the music at the Olympic [breaking](https://time.com/6996983/breaking-olympics-paris-scoring/) competition in Paris, which begins at Place de la Concorde on Friday with the women’s event, wants to settle a debate that has percolated ever since breaking’s inclusion in the Paris Summer Olympics was announced[ in late 2020.](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/dec/08/olympics-branded-a-mockery-after-inclusion-of-breakdancing-for-paris-games) What you’re about to watch at the [Olympics](https://time.com/6988148/paris-2024-summer-olympics-guide-when-how-to-watch-games/) is _not_ a sport. “I consider it an art and a dance,” says New York City-based Stephen Fleg, a.k.a. DJ Fleg, who along with DJ Plash1 of Poland will be spinning and scratching the records that the breakers will move to. “Don't get me wrong, there is incredible athleticism to it. But that doesn't make it a sport per se. The only reason that I like to make that distinction is to make sure that we keep the integrity of it. Because if it becomes pure athleticism, you will lose one of the biggest elements in it, which is creativity, personality, things that generally aren’t part of sports in the same way.” The results-centric nature of sports, says Fleg, can encroach on dance as an art form. “The main thing is just the goal-oriented status and goal-oriented nature of sports, where it's like, ‘You need to put this ball in this hoop,’” says Fleg. “I love sports, so don't get me wrong. But at the same time, when breaking becomes goal-oriented in that sense only, you lose the drive to express or create in the same way that has built the dance from its foundation. It’s a dance. Any other dance wouldn't be considered a sport. Dance is its own category, its own plane of things.” “That's pretty much the objective truth, because breaking will die if you start treating it strictly as the moves,” says Fleg. “Moves don't encompass the entirety of it. I’d like to say that's my opinion, but I really don't think it's an opinion. I think that's the fact.” At the Olympics, the breaking DJ is considered a “technical official,” which understates the role. The person who measures how far someone throws the javelin, or makes sure the swimmers stay in their lane... now that’s a technical official. The breaking DJ is integral to the whole affair. Unlike, say, [figure skaters, ](https://time.com/7008872/team-usa-figure-skaters-gold-medal-paris-summer-olympics/)who carefully choreographed routines going into a competition, the breakers don’t know what music the DJ will play. The DJs are sort of like pitchers in baseball. Fleg will offer something up:It’s up to the Olympians to react spontaneously and hit it out of the park. “Not to self-aggrandize too much here, but the role of what I'm doing has never been something that has existed in the Olympics or major sports,” says Fleg. “I'm not an idle player that's sitting back watching to see what is happening, to make a judgment. I have an active role, a very active role, in how dancers get down.” Fleg insists none of the breakers have contacted him with song requests. “They know better,” he says. “Even in a regular competition, that's a great way for me to definitely not play that. I don't want to be blatantly biased.” Fleg, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore and started breaking when he was 13\. He’s been deejaying since his early 20s, at both competitions and clubs, and he’s also a music producer and event organizer. He promises a variety of beats at breaking. “You're going to hear African rhythms, Latin rhythms, fun, psychedelic stuff,” says Fleg. “James Brown, hip hop. It's good to come in with an open mind about the music and just enjoy it.” He expects to correct misperceptions. “People kind of mock breaking,” says Fleg. “They do [the worm.](https://www.tiktok.com/discover/breakdancing-worm) Look, this dance has had 40 years of evolution. And most people still don't know what that looks like. They're about to know. When you see some of these moves, where the athleticism does kick in, these guys are incredible. They're geniuses, They're physical geniuses.” Is Fleg nervous? “People asking me if I'm nervous makes me more nervous than I need to be,” says Fleg. “But in general, I'm fine. I'm just focusing on what I have to do here.” I point out to him that this will be the first time he’s deejaying in front of millions of people around the world. Am I not helping? “Once again, yes,” says Fleg. “The answer is yes.” ## Transcript As the 2024 Paris Olympics officially begin on July 26, more than 10,000 athletes will be representing over 200 countries in 32 different sports. They've trained for years to earn a spot on one of the most prestigious stages in the world. I'm Sean Gregory, senior sports correspondent at time, and I've been lucky enough to learn from some of the actual Olympians over the years. Fair warning, these training sessions haven't always looked pretty. Wait, down. First up, I was fortunate enough to shoot around with the all time scoring king Lebron James before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the late Hall of Famer, Kobe Bryant, who won gold for the US in Beijing and London. So we're gonna get down and a little bits if hooves, let me see what you get. Alright, let's go. All right. I got to step up now. You see him shaking? You catch him shaking, he's shaking in his boots. Okay. Oh, no. Oh. Oh. Stretch. Really? Stretch. You know, some people you grow up you. Stretch. You better stretch. The ain't oke. Don't fix it. Uh oh. Excuse me. Oh, Come. I see that's talking trash. That's talking trash. No, give me that had Give me that hand. Give me the hand. Yeah. Oh shot. Oh. Oh, don't reach. No reach. No reach. Oh, excuse me. To quick. To more. You didn't get physical. Oh. Oh. Alright. Koby? Man. Very welcome man. Thanks for. Hope that helps a a little bit. Hope so too. Thank you. A, man. Around the same time, I met Serbian tennis player Novak Jokovic. To see how I'd fare against the future all time leader in men's grand slam titles. Get to the net. Get to the net. Short ball. Short ball. Oh, here comes the love. Here comes the love. Smash winner. He got it all. In the one point. In 10 seconds. He got it off. Last thing. Let me try to return to Ser. Are you ready? Yep. 125 down the middle. Around 103 second sir. 230. Hardest one. 130. Here. Oh, my God. My shoulder is gonna He's gonna fall apart. Yeah. Get it. Fight. Fine fine. Yeah. Drop shots. Drop shots. Drop shot. H guys fast. Next was the time I asked former Olympic soccer player, Chris Albright, what he thinks every soccer fan should know about the world's most popular sport. Won't just show us the three kind of kicks you talked about, and maybe I'll try to stop you. Great. The first is just go for power. You hope you put enough pace on it to get it by? Oh. The second option. They pick their spot. They know going up, where they're gonna play it. Okay, so I'm gonna go to my right and high. And they're basically saying to the goalie. Let's see who the better man is. The third option is you can use deception to get the goalie leaning one way or the other. And then the last second, you try to place it in the other side. Oh. That's shameful. In 2012, I jumped it to the deep end of the pool to try out synchronized swimming now known in the Olympics as artistic swimming. What we do is when we break it down with these counts instead of music so that each count is critically synchronized N one, two, three, four, five, six, four. What do you how do I do? And then what we're gonna do is we're all gonna go underwater and pull your feet. Okay. You can use your hands to kind of self, so your feet are gonna be in art. All of your hands? What are you gonna do to me? No. Hear this. B. Hi. There we go. Wir. You got to grow your arms up. Alright, cool. One on Sand. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. Whoo. I should have flipped. Ah, the perils of this job. In 2012, I donned a fencing suit, got hooked up to electronic scoring gear, and tried dueling with Olympic fencer Tim Morehouse. Munch. What's pen. Good. Ready. You're attacking you not attack? I'm sweating. My heart's beating. It's like 100 degrees in this. Is that part of the workout of it? I mean, I mean fencing is a really difficult workout. When you're fencing between every point, your heart rate is 180-195. So it's similar to a sprinter. Okay. Now you run and you core the point? Yes. T hank. Wow. Your first second point. Sport climbing will be returning to the Olympics this year for the second time. Watch, but don't judge me here when I tried climbing for the first time with former Olympic athlete Kyra Condie. It wasn't easy. All right. Let's try to sit. Eight 8 seconds 8 seconds. Go ahead and put your foot on y. Okay. So now you can go. I you the good part of those all. Oh, nice. I'm not getting 8 seconds. This is Bouldering. This is my favorite discipline. Hand. Yeah. Get it. And I put both hands on the one that your honor know? Big go and then g that miss. How is the close? The 2024 Paris Olympics will be unlike any other with the addition of a new Olympic sport, breaking, commonly known as break dancing. Most recently, I not only got to learn some moves from Olympic breaker Sonny Joy. I got to show her some of my own ridiculous ones as well. So what we'll do is we'll step across one, and then we'll step across, and then we'll step to the side. No, actually, we can step back. So we'll step back, and they'll step back. And then come back to the middle. Yeah. Okay. So this is called a 2000. Usually I can do this cold. Oh, let's see. So that's, like, a basic power move. Can I show you the move I did when I was in second grade? Yeah. My count show? Yes, please. Alright. I think I could still do it. This was called the Spider, as I remember it. And check, check this out. See if you'll see this in Paris. I went across the stage and what like that. Oh, yeah. That's what I did, spide St here first. I can use that powers if you'd like. I appreciate it. Yeah, I'll add it to my role that 2024 will be the ninth time I've been to an Olympic games as a journalist. 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