The Olympics may be coming to an end, but there’s still one event we can’t wait to see – breaking, which is making its Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris beginning August 9.
Although breakdancing as an art form was born out of the imaginations of young people of color in the Bronx in the 1970s and 80s, its popularity has expanded far beyond our borders. This time around, teams from countries like Japan, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan and Ukraine are sending their most talented B-Boys and B-Girls to demonstrate their strength, flexibility and creativity as they show off their best top rocks and backspins on the world stage. The competition will consist of 16 athletes who will go head-to-head in battles where they will be judged on their technique, the vocabulary of moves in their arsenal, execution, musicality and originality.
Team USA will be represented by Victor Montalvo (who just so happens to be the winner of the WDSF’s World Breaking Championship), Sunny Choi, Logan Edra and 29-year-old Jeffrey Louis, AKA “B-Boy Jeffro.” Louis, a Houston native, was introduced to breaking as a kid by his older brother, as he told Houston’s CBS affiliate. From what we can see, Louis is the only Black ‘breaker’ on the US team, which has some fans annoyed since breakdancing started within the Black culture. Louis just seems to be excited to show off the art form.
Watch him go up against B-Boy Khalil of France at the 2023 World Final in Paris:
But if you think the United States has this competition in the bag, think again. Check out B-Boy Shigekix of Team Japan:
Louis is excited to show off his skills in Paris and hopes that the attention the sport receives will have a positive impact on the culture.
“It still feels weird to me that people see me as a, like, oh he’s number one. He’s a contender for a gold medal at the Olympics. I’m just, like, it’s still crazy to think that,” Louis said.
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