Kyle and Jackie O star Cooper Johns has revealed his famous father's odd connection to the Olympics' newest sport.
'Breaking' or breakdancing has been added to the Summer Olympics lineup for the 2024 Paris games - and it's a favourite pastime of NRL legend Matthew 'Matty' Johns according to his son.
'My dad used to be in a breakdancing group,' the 24-year-old former Melbourne Storm player admitted on Friday's Kyle and Jackie O Show, stunning hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson.
'In Cessnock, rather than have fights, he and three mates had a breakdancing group called the Street Beaters,' Cooper revealed.
The radio stars then called Johns, who confirmed his bizarre hobby began after he saw the 1984 dance film Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.
'It changed my life. I immediately when I went out of [the theatre], went to Target and bought some shiny vests, went and got some lino, a spotlight,' Matty explained.
'And me and my mates used to prowl around Cessnock. We had a dance troupe called the Street Beaters, which, ironically, never beat anyone.
'We were the wooden spooners as far as dancing in the coalfields.'
Kyle and Jackie O star Cooper Johns has revealed his famous father's odd connection to the Olympics' newest sport. Pictured: Matty Johns
'What did you do? Just stand out on the street and break dance for people walking by?' asked Jackie.
Oh, there were certain areas where the dealers are, you know, where the drunks are,' Johns explained.
'And there were certain areas where the break dancers would catch up and do your break dancing. It was pretty cool.'
'Breaking' or breakdancing has been added to the Summer Olympics lineup for the 2024 Paris games - and it's a favourite pastime of the NRL legend. Pictured: stock
A throwback image of a young Matthew Johns (left) with brother Andrew
Breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing are the new sports added to the Paris 2024 menu, with breaking considered one of the most unusual newcomers.
Breaking beat competitive dances like ballroom and Latin to earn its place in Paris after featuring at the 2018 Youth Olympics.
It was a controversial call that prompted Aussie squash great Michelle Martin to say the Games have become a 'mockery' after her sport wasn't selected.
Breaking had a trial run at the 2018 Youth Olympics, where five judges assessed competitors on six criteria: creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality.
The scoring system assigned different weights to each, with technique, performativity, and creativity accounting for 60 per cent of the total score, while variety, musicality, and personality contributed the remaining 40 per cent.
After each round, judges submitted their votes, and the participant with the highest points was declared the winner.
