The first time Paris hosted the Olympic Games in 1900, Australian Fred Lane dived into the murky waters of the River Seine and emerged the gold-medal winner of the 200m obstacle course swim.
Participants swam, then climbed a pole, clambered over and swam under boats toward the finish line, where Lane beat Austrian Otto Wahle, thanks to the ingenious strategy of climbing onto the boats from the stern.
It was the event’s one-time appearance at the Games, like many others now consigned to the annals of discontinued Trivial Pursuit editions. Events where competitors shot fake moving deer, or real moving pigeons, the amusingly dull equestrian vaulting where athletes jumped on and off unmoving horses instead of riding horses that jumped things, and the venerable tug of war, which lasted from 500 BC until the last century.
As whimsical as they were, these sports were a reflection of their times, which brings us to the inclusion in the 2024 Games of the sport of breakdancing, the most quintessential modern sport. After blowing away expectations and viewership at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, it was impossible to keep the dynamic, acrobatic and visually striking sport out of the upcoming Paris Games, where it will be the only new event.
It’s a hip-hop based dance battle. One-on-one, best-of-three rounds, a.k.a. throwdowns, with each one lasting just 60 seconds. Think of it as combining nearly every gymnastics competition — floor routines, pommel horse, artistic — but being more spontaneous. A freestyle. Breakers can’t plan a specific routine as the music — with different beats, bass and pace — is chosen at random by the DJ.
“I see the development and the potential that has moved it into the Olympic stage,” said Mark Strong, part of CBC’s broadcast contingent that will cover the event.
“And I think all it needed is this big platform on the Champs-Élysées to allow them to see that it’s not just about a cardboard box on the floor. They can see that it’s actually moving the needle.
Strong says there’s much in the Olympics where you wonder, how did this become a sport?
“But then, you notice that there’s a following behind it, there’s a culture behind it, there’s an actual draw to it. Most of all, what the Olympics really wanted was to draw the younger crowd. I can’t think of something that can draw a younger, hipper viable crowd than breaking.”
One of Canada’s best chances at a medal in Paris rests on the talents of Vancouver’s Phil Kim, who competes as B-Boy Phil Wizard. The 27-year-old is a former world champ (2022) and runner-up (2021) and was an early Paris Olympic qualifier by winning the 2023 Pan American Games.
Breaking sank its hooks into Kim’s soul when as a 13-year-old he saw a local dance crew, Now Or Never (N.O.N.) in Vancouver’s Robson Square in 2009. The experience sent him straight to YouTube.
“I think for everybody who starts breaking, it is a bit of an escape,” said Kim, a Magee Secondary graduate. “I grew up watching a lot of anime and superhero movies, and that’s what it felt like to me. It felt like another world that I could be a part of. It felt in the beginning almost like I was watching my favourite superheroes. When you see breakers, the thing that draws me to it the most is the uniqueness and individuality. You can see two different dancers and they’re both equally incredible, but the way they dance is completely different. Like Superman and Batman — you could see that equally, they’re both so strong, but they were strong in different ways.
“And so that’s what drew me to the dance. It was something that sucked me into like a different world and then I really kind of fell in love with the world, the community, the music, the people the combination of athleticism and the artistry.”
But as the son of Korean immigrants, there were expectations, such as an education that would lead to a stable, well-paying job. His brother John works in insurance; his other brother Daniel is in law school. After high school, Kim lasted two semesters at UBC in psychology before dropping out, and spent his time breaking.
The springboard came in 2017 when he entered the Red Bull BC One qualifier in Los Angeles. He decided if he won the event, he’d go all-in on breaking. And even after he did, sending his first ripple through the sport’s world, he still suffered from a self-admitted “impostor syndrome.”
“I was struggling a lot mentally even after I won that event. It was still a daily battle for me inside my head about ‘should I be doing this?’” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of financial feasibility or opportunity at that time — not like there is today. So it was very difficult for me to make that decision.”
Kim said he asked himself whether he should get a job, go to school.
“Knowing that your parents sacrificed a lot to come to this country to provide you a different opportunity and different life, and instead of going to school and getting a job and doing something stable that my brothers did … I was the one that was, ‘I want to be a breaker.’ It was so left field.
“There is that societal pressure. … ‘This isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing. This isn’t normal.’ That was definitely a huge struggle for me. It was just like love and passion that — really as cheesy as it sounds — was what pushed me through. Because I just love to break.”
Now Kim has a host of sponsors, including Lululemon and Red Bull. He’s headed to Paris hoping add some gold to that green and he’s one of the serious medal threats, along with B-Boy Victor, Shigekix (Asian champion), and Euro champ Dany Dann.
His family will be in Paris to watch him. His mother has seen him compete, but it’s a first for his dad.
The competition will run on Aug. 9 and 10 at Place de la Concorde where 16 B-Girls and B-Boys will be whittled down to a single champ in one day. Expected scorching temperatures will throw a curveball into the outdoor competition.
The competitors will be scored on five categories — each counting toward 20 per cent of the score —including technique, vocabulary, which is the variety of moves, musicality, originality and execution, said Strong, who’s known as Strizzy on CBC.
“Those are the elements that they’ll be looking at while they’re breaking. Now us, as fans and those who aren’t, many will be entertained with gymnastics and acrobatics. We’re captivated by it, but there’s a deeper athletics component that we’re looking at when it comes to actually judging it,” Strong said.
Breaking started in the Bronx of New York City in the 1970s, evolved into how competing gangs settled disputes, before becoming artistic expression and a mental escape from inner city life. The internet wasn’t even a concept, let alone a source of video footage where one can see moves and tutorials, like Kim used to hone his skills early on.
“It’s incredible with the short time that breaking has been around how much it has evolved,” said Kim.
“If you do a headstand or you do air flares — which at one point were considered some of the hardest moves — those are the basics now. There are kids in Asia, in Europe that are doing the craziest moves that even I can’t do. And so that difficulty level is going to be exponentially higher. The physical difficulty level has really risen, the artistry level now has maybe taken a step back, and that’s the side that we’d like to see shine a little bit more (in Paris),” said Kim.
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As Strong pointed out, even if you can watch a YouTube vid on how to change your car’s oil or paint a portrait, it doesn’t mean you can master it.
“You have to have the passion for it,” he said. “You see people do some stuff and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s all technical. It’s all semantics.’ But when you see the heart, spirit and soul — because that’s what really breaking is about — if you don’t put that in your actual performance, then people will know ‘Oh, you just read a book or you saw that move on YouTube.’ It’s about the fluidity of it that comes from inside.”
B-Boy Victor, whose full name is Victor Montalvo, was one of Kim’s inspirations in his rise, as the Florida native won the Red Bull BC One twice (2015, 2022) and also is one of his close friends. Both have beaten each other in the final of the World Championships. Amir Zakirov of Kazakhstan is another friend and competitor, and Kim recently returned from Lithuania, where he was training with Dominika Benevic, a.k.a. B-girl Nicka, the European women’s champion.
“It was definitely a lot more of an aggressive dance previously, but now I think there’s just a lot of love in the culture and community. We have a lot of good sayings like ‘Each one, teach one,’” Kim said. “When you go to these events — the Olympics is a perfect example — we all know each other. We’ve competed against and with each other many times.
“A lot of the people I’ll be competing against are some of my closest friends. There’s not going to be hate on this stage… It might get a little bit heated just because of the moment for sure, but at the end, it’s all love. It’ll just be the few minutes between the time the music starts and stops that it won’t be,” said Kim.
“When it comes to the actual battle, don’t get it twisted,” said Strong. “They’re ready to throw it out, and they’re ready to finish it off. In their eyes you can still see the element of ‘we’re going to get it on.’ It’s not about a fight, it’s about a battle. As much as they’re trying to display their talent, their artistry, their athleticism, it’s still a battle. So it’s still, at the core of it: ‘we’re still fighting for the top.’”
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