Canada’s B-Boy Phil Wizard wins first Olympic breaking gold

PARIS: Canada´s B-Boy Phil Wizard won the inaugural Olympic men´s breaking gold in Paris on Saturday, and said he hoped it “opens doors to people” involved in the high-energy dance sport.

Phil Wizard, whose real name is Philip Kim, beat France´s B-Boy Dany Dann in the final amid the opulent grandeur of the Place de la Concorde, with B-Boy Victor of the US taking bronze.

Breaking, better known as breakdancing, is making its first and possibly last appearance at the Olympics, having been left off the programme for Los Angeles 2028.

Phil Wizard said breaking was “an underappreciated sport” and hoped its Olympic debut would change people´s minds.

“I hope that today was a perfect example of showing the world how incredible breaking is -- that was truly my only goal here,” said the 27-year-old, a former world champion.

“I´m so grateful and so happy to come out with the win, but more than anything I just wanted to show the world what breaking is.”

The competition saw 16 dancers, known as B-Boys, going head-to-head in a series of battles, starting with a pool stage before moving to a knock-out round.

Phil Wizard had the crowd against him in the final against local hero Dany Dann, a 36-year-old with blue hair whose real name is Danis Civil. But the Canadian soon had them eating out of his hand thanks to his incredible routine, for which the judges awarded him a 3-0 victory.

“I was stressed out of my mind,” said Phil Wizard.

“It´s been a whirlwind of emotion. I cried my eyes out because I was so scared to do this.

“There´s been a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations -- I´m glad I was able to deliver.”

Danny Dann, a former European champion, said he felt like he had “represented breaking” to the world.

“I´m delighted, I really didn´t think I would win this medal,” he said, revealing that he dyed his hair blue because it was his “lucky colour”. “I just went there to see how things would go and I´m going home with a silver medal.”

Despite the spectacular moves on show, Phil Wizard said the panel of judges were looking for “something new every round”.

“You may well think it´s the most explosive, crazy dynamic movements that score the most points,” he said. “But in breaking there´s a lot of different categories and the most important thing is originality and diversity of movement.”

The B-Boys perform on a circular stage, accompanied by DJs pumping out hip-hop classics and MCs hyping up the crowd.

Breaking originated in the block parties held in the Bronx in New York in the 1970s.

B-Boy Victor, also known as Victor Montalvo, said the competition represented “the true essence of hip hop and breaking culture”. “We just want to make sure that we show everyone that it´s a dance, first of all,” said Victor, who beat Japan´s Shigekix for the bronze medal.

“It´s all about self-expression, it´s all about originality. It´s not just about big moves.”

Japan´s B-Girl Ami won the women´s gold on Friday, beating Lithuania´s B-Girl Nicka in the final.