Breaking enjoys its Olympic moment — but for how long?

“Make some noise,” yelled the compere of the breaking event on Friday at Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris.
The crowd, still not full and certainly not sure of themselves, tentatively cheered back.
Then the DJ cranked up the volume, and the competitors known as B-girl India (from the Netherlands) and B-girl Talash (representing the Olympic refugee team) took to the dance floor, ready to face off.
Just like that, the Olympics’ newest sport got underway, watched by, among others, the American rapper Snoop Dogg, who had made an appearance on stage beforehand.
“It felt really good, I was happy to be the first” to win a breaking battle at the Olympics, B-girl India, real name India Sardjoe, told reporters when asked by DW how it felt to create history.
“I tried to treat it like a normal competition. Of course, we know it’s the Olympics and it’s different. I tried to keep it as normal as possible,” she added.
Former world champion Sardjoe, who was speaking after the round-robin stage, went on to finish in fourth place. Japan’s B-girl Ami won the gold medal by taking all three rounds of the final against Lithuania’s B-girl Nicka, who claimed the silver. The bronze went to China’s B-girl 671.
The introduction of breaking, previously known as breakdancing, to the Olympic program six years after it debuted at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires is part of a drive to attract a younger audience to the Games.
At first glance, that tactic appears to have worked. There were visibly more children in the crowd than at other Olympic competitions, including 9-year-old Fiep Neuteboom, who was watching with her parents and older brother from the Netherlands.
“It’s cool, it’s very exciting,” she said, clutching a poster with the name ‘India’ written on the Dutch flag.
Her mother, Maartje Neuteboom, concurred.
“It’s a new era for the Olympics, and that’s why we have new sports like breaking,” she said. “It’s really nice for the children.”
And so, it’s all the more surprising that breaking, for now, is “one and done.” The sport was dropped for the Los Angeles Games in 2028 to make way for baseball, softball and flag football, which bring in more money and prestige for the US market.
“I’m a little bit sad, but at the same time, I [don’t] decide,” said Antilai Sandrini, aka B-girl Anti, of Italy. “I still don’t believe that I’m here, because breaking is so different. It’s not really a sport. I never thought that one day I could be here at the Olympics. Unfortunately, it will not be in LA. But it’s OK, I like my life.”
Some, of course, have questioned why breaking was included in the Olympics in the first place.
The grandeur of the urban sports park at Place de la Concorde, with its 19th century statues, is certainly a far cry from breaking’s roots as a cultural phenomenon, established on the streets of the Bronx in New York City in the early 1970s and emerging from the poverty and racism experienced by the district’s Black and Hispanic residents.
However, international breaking judge Sophie Lindner believes the sport deserves its place at the Olympics.
“From the very beginning, breaking always had a really competitive energy,” Lindner, who also studies dance and movement at the German Sports University in Cologne, told DW. “It was created by kids who wanted to compare themselves.”
The sport has become a lot more professional in recent years, with a circuit of competitions and the likes of Red Bull and Monster, both energy drink companies, flocking in as sponsors.
“People see themselves as athletes,” Lindner said. “They have sponsorships with brands where they can really make a living out of it.”
For bronze medalist Victor Montalvo, it’s about proving people wrong.
“I’m just happy for the world to see breaking,” Montalvo, who competes as B-boy Victor, told DW early in the competition. “A lot of people have stereotypes and misconceptions of breaking, like [it’s just] spinning on a cardboard floor. It has evolved.”
Lindner is equally aware that some within the community fear that breaking’s soul is “fading out and getting too commercial.” Those people, she said, think breaking “should stay underground and not be a sport in the Olympics.”
For them, “the main goal is to get to know each other and hang out,” Lindner added.
That being said, she’s confident that if handled correctly, both camps — cultural and competitive — can flourish with the sport’s new standing.
“The Olympics has had a huge positive effect on the dancers,” said Lindner. “Breaking is being respected as a profession and as a sport, and not just something that bad kids do.
“It pushes the barriers beyond everything. We have so many kids starting to break. It’s wonderful. We want many people to experience this art form.”
The World DanceSport Federation, which ran the event at the Olympics, previously said it was “profoundly disappointed” that the sport wasn’t on the Los Angeles program, but that it was “still very much in the running” to be included at the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.
For now, those here in Paris are simply trying to enjoy the moment and the experience that comes with it.
“I’m honestly not disappointed it’s not going to be in LA,” said Montalvo. “We never expected this, this was never our goal. I just love breaking. At least we’re here.”
Edited by: Sean Sinico