After an intense day in Paris at the 2024 Olympics, Japanese breaker Ami (Ami Yuasa) emerged victorious, beating out Lithuania’s Nicka (Dominika Banevič) to win gold in the inaugural Olympic breaking event. The podium consisted of Ami with gold, Nicka with silver, and 671 (Qingyi Liu, CHN) with bronze.
While Ami won the final battle 3 rounds to 0, the total judge votes were 16 to 11, indicating a hard-fought b. In fact, the second and third rounds were both 5-4 in favor of Ami, so the margin was slim.
Today’s event was the B-Girl (Women’s) competition, which started at 4:00pm local time and ran until approximately 9:30pm. Ami and Nicka fought their way from the group stage among 16 b-girls, to the finals, performing a grueling 15 rounds of breaking throughout the day. Both of them showed off their best moves all the way through the final rounds, a testament to their training and skill.
Ami and Nicka both take a very traditional, all-around approach to breaking. They have few, if any, gaps in their repertoire, and their attitude and movement shapes show clear influence from breakers of the 1970s and 80s . Both competitors have also pushed the envelope of women’s breaking in terms of technique. This time, Ami took the lead by winning the criteria of execution and musicality, showing more crispness and flair in her rounds.
Nonetheless, the first ever trio of Olympic breaking medalists, Ami, Nicka, and 671, as well as the other b-girl Olympians, will surely be cheered on by audiences in Paris and beyond. It’s a momentous occasion for breaking to have come this far, and the best is yet to come.
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