PARIS, France — Canadian b-boy Phil Wizard (Philip Kim) took gold in the first Olympic men's breaking tournament Saturday.
Hometown favorite French b-boy Dany Dann (Danis Civil) won silver, and American b-boy Victor (Victor Montalvo) took the bronze after taking out Japanese b-boy Shigekix (Shigeyuki Nakarai).
“Local hero" Dany Dann, as the emcees referred to him, took the stage each round to rapturous applause, with the crowd chanting “Dany! Dany!” every time he landed a power move. Kim amazed spectators with his powerful moves, quick feet and quirky personality that he synced to the music.
The entire stadium cheered on its feet as both b-boys hugged before the judges announced their scores. Although the battles sparked fierce competition, between rounds and after each battle, the breakers exchanged hugs, pats on the back and sometimes even synced up their movements with each other, contributing to an atmosphere that remained true to the party culture of hip-hop “jams” and “cyphers” — an informal circle formed by breakers in which they enter one by one to dance and battle.
“We’re all representing hip-hop here, we’re all a big family right now,” Montalvo said.
B-boy Victor, an American two-time world champion and the U.S. favorite, was among eight dancers to advance to the quarterfinals after beating out Japan's b-boy Hiro10 (Hiroto Ono). That win drew loud boos from the many Japanese fans in attendance.
Ono gained rapturous applause after nailing power move after power move — including seemingly endless windmills and headspins — moves that typically get strong reactions from the crowd. Judges are evaluating breakers on more than just their physicality. They're using the Trivium judging system to grade them on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality — each accounts for 20% of the final score.
“In breaking, you have to be musical, you have to bring the essence, it’s not just about the moves,” Montalvo said. “Those moves that they’re doing are amazing. But it’s more than that.”
Montalvo and fellow Team USA b-boy Jeffro (Jeffrey Louis), who was knocked out in the quarterfinals, were seeking to redeem the U.S. imprint on the Olympic stage after both American b-girls were eliminated in the first round of Friday's competition, a blow to the country representing the birthplace of hip-hop and breaking culture. B-girl Logistx (Logan Edra) and b-girl Sunny (Sunny Choi) both ranked in the top 12 internationally but came up short of the quarterfinals.
At its root, breaking is an art form that connects mind, body and soul. Key to any breaking battle is the personality, style and individuality of every breaker. They don't know what songs the DJs will spin ahead of time, testing their ability to stay on beat, sync movements to the rhythm of the music and improvise. The International Olympic Committee also licensed about 400 songs for the competition, which allows the b-boys to break it down to vintage funk and hip-hop jams from the 1990s and early 2000s.
“That’s my favorite part of this dance, is that surprise factor — you don’t know what’s going to be played," Louis said. "So, on the way up to the stage, I’m already anxious, like, trying to figure out what’s the beat going to be like once the beat drops. I’m already trying to connect with it. So it’s just a feeling ... it’s a feeling before the dance. And it’s a dance before the moves.”
Friday was the world's first introduction to Olympic breaking, with 17 b-girls taking the Olympic stage for the first time in its history. The b-girls battled fiercely in their own right, but several moments caused some viewers to raise questions about whether the essence of the hip-hop art form was captured at the Paris Games. That included Australia's b-girl Raygun (Rachael Gunn) performing a meme-worthy move called the “kangaroo” and the silver-medal winning b-girl from Lithuania — who is white — donning a durag.
Friday night’s slips, as well as what Zack Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA and USA Dance, said was a failure by organizers to fully explain the rules and basics of the new Olympic event to the audience “led to what I would call immediate media evisceration of breaking.”
"But I do think and I'm hoping desperately that, today, the same number of people tuned in to watch and we have redeemed ourselves.”
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Associated Press Race & Ethnicity Editor Aaron Morrison in New York contributed to this report.