PARIS– Japanese B-girl Ami won gold in the first breakdancing event of the Olympics, spinning, flipping and toprocking her way past a field of 16 dancers on Friday, a high-energy competition that may not be repeated at future Games.
Ami, real name Ami Yuasa, won all three rounds against B-Girl Nicka (Dominika Banevič) of Lithuania to take the gold medal, capping a long day of breakers who brought hip-hop culture to the Olympic stage at the Place de la Concorde stadium with their flow, rhythm and skill.
“Breaking is my expression,” Yuasa said. It’s an “expression, an art, but I want to say that breaking could also be part of the sport.”
B-girls wowed the crowd with power moves like head spins, windmills and backflips. Fans remained energized throughout the competition, which began in the afternoon and ended just before 10 p.m.
Starting in the quarterfinals, eight of the original 17 B-Girls competed in three-round knockout matches to force their way into the final. Banevič won the silver medal and Chinese B-Girl 671 (Liu Qingyi) took bronze after battling B-Girl India (India Sardjo) from the Netherlands to “Boom!” by The Roots. Liu is a relative newcomer to the breaking scene.
“The Olympics needed breakdancing because it’s a breath of fresh air,” said Banevič. “So many people have seen breakdancing for the first time, that’s huge. And I’m glad I was able to represent the art form of breakdancing at the highest level.”
Both American B-Girls were eliminated in the first round, a blow to the country considered the birthplace of hip-hop and breaking culture. B-Girl Logistx (real name Logan Edra) and B-Girl Sunny (Sunny Choi) were both ranked in the top 12 internationally but failed to make it to the quarterfinals.
“I feel like I still shined and I still represented dance and had some moments,” Logistx said. “It was such a big opportunity, it’s such a big platform and I’m really glad we’re here.”
A nine-member jury, all B-boys and B-girls from all over the world, evaluated the breakers according to the Trivium rating system: technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality – each of these points counts for 20% of the final score.
Each of the B-girls began by catching the beat while dancing standing up – a series called “toprocking” – before starting to show off their footwork moves on the dance floor. The soundtrack to their routines was a surprise for each of them, as two DJs played records on a turntable set up behind the judges.
The judges sat between the circular dance floor, which was designed to resemble a vinyl record, and the giant replica of a boombox, in reference to the musical root of breaking – the breakbeat itself – that moment when the vocals of a song start and the DJ repeats the beat over and over again, allowing B-boys and B-girls to make their mark on the dance floor.
Breaking is judged qualitatively due to its roots as an art form. Judges use a sliding scale to score each round and fight, adjusting the scale to the breaker who wins in each of the above criteria. Throughout the event, two emcees respond to each breaker’s personalities and signature moves to get the crowd pumped up.
The challenge for the organizers was to bring breakdancing and hip hop to a wide audience. Among them were many spectators who were skeptical about the inclusion of this dance form in the Olympic program. But after the marathon of competitions on Friday, there is no doubt about the athletic performance and physicality of the participants.
Beyond their physical abilities, breakers had to be careful to showcase their style and individuality – which is essential to the culture of hip hop and breaking.
In total, 33 breakers from 15 countries and the Refugee Olympic Team made Olympic history on Friday. On Saturday, the B-Boys will take the stage, which could be their only chance to fight for the title at the Olympic Games in the foreseeable future. Breaking was added as an Olympic discipline for Paris, but will not be on the program in Los Angeles in 2028.
Before the competition began, American rapper Snoop Dogg entered the stadium to the soundtrack of “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” sparking cheers and dancing in the stands. The presenters introduced the 17 B-Girls competing on Friday, with the B-Girls from France and the United States receiving the loudest applause from the crowd.
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Associated Press Race and Ethnicity Editor Aaron Morrison contributed to this report from New York.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
