Breakers look to capture — and keep — the world's attention at Olympics
Canadian Philip Kim, known onstage as Phil Wizard, will compete for Olympic gold on Saturday
Breaking took centre stage at the famed Place de la Concorde in Paris on Friday, showcasing the best female breakers — known as B-Girls — in the world.
On Saturday, it will be Canadian Philip Kim's turn to show his moves in the sport that blends athleticism, art and culture.
The 27-year-old, who competes as B-Boy Phil Wizard, is the only Canadian who made the cut in the sport's Olympic debut. He'll compete against 15 other B-Boys for the opportunity to be the first male Olympic breaking champion.
"We're making history as we go," Vancouver-based Kim told CBC News Network's Heather Hiscox.
"We're literally creating it. We're paving the road as we go. To be a part of that is not something I ever envisioned in my life, not something I ever thought I would be doing."
It's a big platform, with a chance to get more attention on the eye-catching sport.
But the top breakers will need to find a way to sustain the momentum when the sport disappears from the Olympic programme in Los Angeles in 2028.
"That's our challenge," said Geoff Reyes, president of the non-profit Breaking Canada. "We had to get here in the first place, so if we've done it once, we can do it again."
'He radiates originality'
The day before breaking made its Olympic debut, Reyes and other Breaking Canada staff got to see the venue for the first time. Place de la Concorde has also played host to Olympic skateboarding, 3x3 basketball and BMX freestyle at the Games.
It was a surreal moment for Reyes, as it sunk in that breaking would really be part of the Olympics.
And then, on Friday, the female breakers took the stage for the first time, dazzling the Paris crowd with their footwork in a series of battles. Japanese breaker Ami Yuasa (B-Girl Ami) won gold, becoming the first female Olympic breaking champion.
Whether it's happening in the street or on the biggest stage of the Olympics, breaking grabs your attention.
"We're hoping that obviously a younger audience view breaking and appreciate it and want to get involved," Reyes said.
"We're also hoping that their parents and a lot of their elders can view it and respect it, to push their kids and young people to get involved as well."
Enter Kim, the 2022 world champion and gold medallist at last year's Pan American Games.
While Reyes expects it'll be hard to distinguish clear leaders among the B-Boys, with the best of the best on tap, he expects Kim to bring something different from everyone else.
"He radiates originality," Reyes said.
WATCH | Kim on the moments that changed everything:
"For breaking fans themselves, you can also likely expect some fresh stuff and that's what hip hop is all about, right? Staying fresh."
The path to gold
Kim comes into the B-Boys' competition as a strong medal contender. He'll begin his quest for gold on Saturday at 10:11 a.m. ET in his battle against Danis Civil (B-Boy Dany Dann) of France.
He'll also compete at 11:01 a.m. ET against Ukrainian Oleg Kuznetsov (B-Boy Kuzya) and at 11:50 a.m. ET against Australian Jeff Dunne (B-Boy J Attack) to wrap up the round robin battles.
Each round has four breakers, with the best two breakers from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.
In the knockout rounds, each battle will include three rounds as breakers progress through the competition.
WATCH | Kim qualifies for the Olympics with a gold medal at the Pan American Games:
The gold-medal battle is set for Saturday at 3:29 p.m. ET.
Other top competitors include the winner of the 2023 Dance Sport World Breaking Championships, American Victor Montalvo (B-Boy Victor), and two-time world championship medallist Shigeyuki Nakarai (B-Boy Shigekix) from Japan.
"I think going out there, everyone just wants to win and represent themselves and kind of showcase their style and do it authentically," Kim told Hiscox. "That's kind of my approach, too."
Instead of being discouraged about not being on the programme for 2028, Reyes hopes the Olympic spotlight will create a bigger stage for breaking, no matter where the B-Boys and B-Girls are competing in the future.
"We can finally get to a point where we can create some sort of sustainable infrastructure globally with breaking both as an art and a sport," Reyes said. "This can definitely set us on the right path to sustainability."
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