A popular dance form with Māori and Pasifika rangatahi, breakdancing has made its Olympic debut, crowning its first women’s champion in Games’ history early Saturday (NZT).
Japan’s B-Girl Ami (Ami Yuasa) has the honour of claiming the first ever gold medal in the new Olympic sport, already a hit in the Youth Olympics.
“I don’t want my life to change,” the 25-year-old told Olympics.com.
“I mean it in a good way, but I don’t want to change much myself.”
Ami was legit! So clean! This what a real b-girl looks like! #breaking #Olympics2024 #ami #breakdancing pic.twitter.com/UOQnQmR3ON
— cjacksx_ (@Cjacksx_) August 9, 2024
Source / X
Yuasa swept aside 17-year-old Lithuanian world champion B-Girl Nicka (Dominika Banevic) 3-0 in the gold medal battle at La Concorde, the largest square in the heart of Paris.
But Yuasa said the sport is not about who wins but the beauty of the dance form.
“I’m happy breaking will get more attention as a result but it’s not all about the winners in this sport, she said speaking to Olympics.com.
“It so happens that I won today when everyone showed what they were made of. Another day, another time, things could have turned out entirely differently.
“I couldn’t be happier if people learn about the beauty of breaking - and not only about the gold medal.”
China’s B-Girl 671 (Liu Qingyi) grabbed the bronze medal, the 18-year-old winning her battle with B-Girl India (India Sardjoe) of the Netherlands, who at the same age has the distinction of being the first athlete to win a breaking battle at the Olympics.
US celebrity Snoop Dogg got the day’s activities underway.
Last week, Snoop told Vogue he was “happy the Olympics was finally paying tribute to hip hop and allowing it to be a sport”.
“I’m most excited to see breakdancing. This is the first time that it’s been actually entered into a competition at the Olympics.
“So I’m anxious to see what the performers and the dancers are going to do representing their countries, considering that I am hip hop and I do know what hip hop and what break dancing is supposed to look like.”
Part of an effort to attract a younger audience to the Games, the sport will not feature at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.