Five decades after the art form began in the Bronx, breaking officially arrived at the Olympic Games.
Canada's Philip Kim (B-Boy Phil Wizard) and Japan's Ami Yuasa (B-Girl Ami) became the inaugural breaking gold medalists in a two-day schedule that made Olympic history.
Here's the story of breaking at the Paris Olympic Games.
Medal table
| Country | 🥇-🥈-🥉 | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| Canada | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| France | 0 - 1 - 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 0 - 1 - 0 | 1 |
| China | 0 - 0 - 1 | 1 |
| United States | 0 - 0 - 1 | 1 |
Women's Event: Ami wins sport's first-ever Olympic gold medal
Five decades after the art form began in the Bronx, breaking officially arrived at the Olympic Games with the women's event. Japan's Ami Yuasa (B-Girl "Ami"), 25, took down Lithuania's Dominika Banevic (B-Girl "Nicka"), 17, in the gold medal match to become breaking's first-ever Olympic gold medalist. Nicka's silver earned Lithuania its fourth medal of the Paris Games.
China's Liu Qingyi (B-Girl 671), took bronze after overpowering India Sardjoe (B-Girl India), 2-1.
"The fact that breaking was added to the Olympic Games was a great thing because it allowed people to discover all the wonderful things about breaking," Ami said.
Everyone who competed today was able to communicate the wonderful aspects of breaking.
Recap, Men's Event: Phil Wizard strikes breaking gold
Canada's Philip Kim (B-Boy Phil Wizard) won the first-ever men's breaking gold medal, taking down France's Danis Civil (B-Boy Danny Dann) in the gold medal battle.
"I am over the moon right now," Phil Wizard said. "I don’t really believe it.
It still feels very surreal. It went by very fast. It feels like a dream.
American Victor Montalvo (B-Boy Victor) took home bronze with a win in the bronze battle over Japan's Shigeyuki Nakarai (B-Boy Shigekix). Victor was introduced to breaking at six years old by his father Victor Bermudez and his uncle Hector Bermudez, who helped to popularize breaking in Mexico in the late 1980s. After world titles in 2021 and 2023, he is now an Olympic medalist in the Games' newest sport.
"I'm going home with a bronze medal, and it is amazing," Victor said. "I said to myself I needed to come back with something, and I did.
It just feels surreal to me. It is like, wow, I just won a medal for breaking. It has not hit me yet.