Partly because of breaking.

We know the International Olympic Committee wants to be hip and appeal to youth. You only need to look to the Tokyo Games' dance card to see skateboarding, surfing and street ball (three-on-three basketball) among the new sport mix.

Paris 2024 confirmed breaking - also known as breakdancing for all ye oldies. On the chopping block was Ballarat hearts and pride.

In cuts to other programs, the men's 50-kilometre walk is out.

This comes as our Jared Tallent, the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist in the discipline, prepares to put his body on the line for one more Games. To make clear, Tallent will have his chance to stake a claim in Tokyo next year.

Then...gone?

Not good enough IOC.

Dancing has always been a sensitive topic when it comes to defining sport. There is no doubt in the athleticism involved, from elite ranks down, across a variety of dance disciplines. There is also the strong artistic component to dance. You might consider shades of this in gymnastics or more prominently in ice dancing, at the Winter Olympics.

Why just breaking for the Olympics when there is likely far more "hip" global interest by tapping into the dance competition world of your Abby Lee Millers?

But really, this is not about dancing.

We know tweaks have to be made in the Games, yet when it came to walking we should have been talking about expanding it to allow women to battle the distance, a factor Claire Tallent has long championed. Although, there are talks for a mixed gender walk event to be added.

There will still be the men's and women's 20 kilometre walks.

The 50km walk was a truer test of endurance, mentally and physically. This was a discipline Jared Tallent specialised in, compared to the faster sprint-like alternative.

Irish Olympian Jessie Barr this week told Irish sports news The42 it was like taking out the marathon but saying it was okay because there was still the 5000 metres.

At 7.8km longer than a marathon run, the 50km walk demands discipline to adhere to the strict rules of their form right to the very finish line. Tactically, the race is incredible to watch with athletes' balancing a need to stay in reach of leaders and having enough energy to finish fast.

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If you have ever been overtaken by Jared Tallent when you are running at Lake Wendouree, you quickly learn this is not a mere power walk. Tallent is flying but also gliding so seemingly smooth.

This sport has roots back in the 17^th and 18^th centuries before gaining popularity as pedestrianism, according to World Athletics. The men's 50km walk was first contested at an Olympic Games in 1932 but was dropped for the 1976 Montreal Games.

Olympics are stepped in tradition. Must the Games try and be cool in what feels more like a commercial exercise with some B-boy and B-girls' power moves?

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