Being a face of a newly minted Olympic sport would stress out anyone, let alone someone who’s barely out of her teens. But Logan Edra, a 21-year-old California native who now lives in Florida, is handling the pressure with more chill than athletes twice her age. “If I fail, then I fail,” she tells SELF. So for now, she’s going “step by step, taking it one day at a time” as she prepares to take on the 2024 Paris Games.
That’s where Edra will make her Olympic debut in breaking, a “dance sport” more commonly known as “breakdancing” among laypeople. You might not be familiar with all the specifics, but you probably get the gist: busting out a range of complex moves—including flips, twists, head spins, and more—to the rhythmic strains of hip-hop music. And that soundtrack wasn’t chosen at random: Breaking, which originated in the Black and Hispanic communities of the 1970s Bronx, is one of four core elements of hip-hop culture, according to Red Bull, the sponsor of international breaking competition Red Bull BC One.
Urged on by her dad, a former breaker himself, Edra got her start when she was seven years old and instantly fell in love. Using the stage name “Logistx” (her dad’s coinage), she has since risen to the highest echelons of the discipline, nabbing first place at the 2018 Silverback Open Championships and the 2020 Junior Breaking 7ToSmoke Radikal Forze Jam. But her biggest victory (so far) came in 2021: That November, she beat Russian opponent Vavi to win the world championship at the Red Bull BC One World Final in Poland.
In light of breaking’s runaway success at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (viewership topped one million, according to NBC), Olympics officials decided that it would finally make its way to the biggest stage of them all. On August 9 and 10, more than 30 B-boys and B-girls (as breakers are known) will face off in Paris in one-on-one “battles” soundtracked by a DJ and narrated by an MC. And Edra will be right there watching it all happen.
“It’s exciting that breaking is on this level right now,” Edra says. “I would say our reach is growing, our visibility. And I think all of us just hope that it doesn’t diminish the culture [of breaking], but more so allow it to have more outlets to be shared with the world.”
Given the athleticism and technical skill required of B-boys and B-girls—have you seen Edra’s one-handed handstand spin?!—it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they need to hit the gym along with practicing breaking. While training (which she typically does solo), Edra likes to switch up what she’s listening to: By her own admission, the “shuffle” feature is her best friend. “I always cover a new song every week, and that becomes my song for a few days, and then I discover a new song and I’ll be listening to that,” she says. When SELF caught up with her before the Games, she shared a few of her favorites at the moment.
1. “Trendsetter” by Connor Price and Haviah Mighty
This song is pretty dope. I love rap that is clean and not as explicit. I think it’s cool to have that because I can play it around kids and not worry about their parents getting mad.
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