'Everyone loved it.' American B-girls proud to be part of breaking's Olympic debut (2024)

PARIS — Sunny Choi has spent many jams dancing in dark, cramped rooms. The floors are dirty. Everyone’s sweating. She may kick someone. They’re still the New York-based B-girl’s favorite places to dance.

But somehow Friday’s grand stage emblazoned with the Olympic rings didn’t feel too far off.

Maybe, she thought when she looked out at the packed grandstands at Place de la Concorde, breaking and the Olympics could mix after all.

“Everyone loved it,” Choi said after breaking made its Olympic debut with the B-girl competition. “I think it works.”

Japan’s Ami Yuasa received thunderous applause from the crowd when she was announced as the winner of the gold medal battle over Lithuania’s Dominika “Nicka” Banevic. China’s Liu “671” Qingyi won bronze as Choi and U.S. teammate Logan “Logistx” Edra failed to advance out of the round-robin stage.

With all athletes competing under their breaking names with classic breaking music that was licensed by the International Olympic Committee in front of an enthusiastic crowd, it felt like an authentic jam, Australian B-girl Rachael “Raygun” Gunn said. Now the question remains whether it truly feels like an Olympic sport.

“I just don’t know what makes an Olympic sport,” Raygun said, noting the broad spectrum of disciplines in the Games from dressage to artistic swimming to the 100-meter dash. “Breaking is clearly athletic, it clearly requires a whole level of dedication across a number of different aspects, so I feel like it meets that criteria and it’s really bringing a new level of excitement.”

American Sunny Choi, who goes by the B-girl name Sunny, competes in the first Olympic breaking competition Friday in Paris.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Since earning a spot in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, breaking was considered the IOC’s latest ploy to rope in younger viewers. But it could turn into a one-hit wonder as breaking isn’t included in the 2028 program.

With competitors searching for glory on the biggest sports stage, Choi, 35, started noticing a gradual shift in the way breakers perform during the lead-up to the Olympics. Dancers are jamming skills into their rounds to please judges.

Instead of throwing all her big moves Friday, Sunny played to the packed crowd. She pointed to the U.S. flag on her white T-shirt as she was introduced before the competition, slapped Snoop Dogg’s hand as she ran into the arena for her first battle and pretended to take Dutch B-girl India Sardjoe‘s head off and shotput it into the crowd.

Choi, who was the first American woman to qualify for the Olympics when she won the 2023 Pan American Games, insists she can do the same power moves as her competitors. But she chose to prioritize her own joy rather than what judges would think.

“It’s a dance, it’s an art form, it’s a culture, it’s community first,” Choi said, “and then I think a sport second.”

The art — once known as breakdancing — has traveled a long way from Bronx street corners to the largest public square in Paris that was once the site of Marie Antoinette’s execution. Some argued that it wasn’t a sport and didn’t belong in the Games. Others argued that its inclusion would cheapen the connection to its roots, Black and Latino communities in New York. There appeared to be no winning.

But at every turn, the U.S. team carrying the burden of representing the nation that gave birth to hip-hop, spoke vehemently about honoring the legacy. The main goal was to present how breaking has progressed in the last 50 years into the highly refined, athletic art form it is now.

After failing to make it out of the round-robin stage by the slimmest of margins, Logistx fought back tears when speaking about the importance of representing hip-hop culture, especially her mentors in the community. The 21-year-old from Chula Vista who came one round short of advancing to the knockout stages grew up in jazz and tap dance, but the disciplines got expensive. She found hip-hop at a church her family attended and fell in love immediately.

“There’s so many people that are struggling out there, and this is why the world needs this,” Logistx said, gesturing to the grandstand that was full during the entire competition. “This is what the world needs. … I want more people to uplift that, because I know we’ll help the world.”

Liu “671” Qingyi, of China, competes in the breaking round robin competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics Friday.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Logistx hoped that breaking could return to the Olympic stage. Raygun lamented that the dancers didn’t get to make their case before their sport’s fate was decided for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

But U.S. dancers hoped the exposure from just one weekend on the Olympic stage will help. They envision a future with more funding for nonprofits and schools. Choi, who plans to open a dance center in Queens, N.Y., hoped a mother in Montana could see breaking in the Olympics and consider letting her child start.

She found her own athletic inspiration from the Games as she grew up hoping to compete as a gymnast. She never thought her Olympic dream would come true through dance, but what she’ll value most from her experience came away from the main stage.

As she practiced for her battles Friday, Choi’s nieces lined the warmup space to watch. They are barely tall enough to see over the barriers separating spectators from the athlete area, and all Choi could see were their little eyes peering over the railing. It was still enough to see the excitement and pride on their faces.