The Canadian beat France’s Dany Dann in entrance of a partisan crowd to take the first-ever males’s gold medal in breaking.
Canada’s B-Boy Phil Wizard received the inaugural Olympic males’s breaking gold in Paris and stated he hoped it “opens doorways to folks” concerned within the high-energy dance sport.
Phil Wizard, whose actual identify is Philip Kim, beat France’s B-Boy Dany Dann in Saturday’s closing amid the opulent grandeur of the Place de la Concorde, with B-Boy Victor of USA taking bronze.
Breaking, higher referred to as breakdancing, is making its first and probably final look on the Olympics, having been left off the programme for Los Angeles 2028.
Phil Wizard stated that breaking was “an underappreciated sport” and hoped its Olympic debut would change folks’s minds.
“I hope that right now was an ideal instance of displaying the world how unimaginable breaking is – that was really my solely objective right here,” stated the 27-year-old, a former world champion.
“I’m so grateful and so comfortable to come back out with the win however greater than something, I simply needed to point out the world what breaking is.”
The competitors noticed 16 dancers, referred to as B-Boys, going head-to-head in a collection of battles, beginning with a pool stage earlier than transferring to a knock-out spherical.
Phil Wizard had the group towards him within the closing towards native hero Dany Dann, a 36-year-old with blue hair whose actual identify is Danis Civil.
However the Canadian quickly had them consuming out of his hand due to his unimaginable routine, for which the judges awarded him a 3-0 victory.
“I used to be wired of my thoughts,” stated Phil Wizard.
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotion. I cried my eyes out as a result of I used to be so scared to do that.
“There’s been a number of strain, a number of expectations – I’m glad I used to be in a position to ship.”
‘All about self-expression’
Danny Dann, a former European champion, stated he felt like he had “represented breaking” to the world.
“I’m delighted, I actually didn’t suppose I might win this medal,” he stated, revealing that he dyed his hair blue as a result of it was his “fortunate color”.
“I simply went there to see how issues would go and I’m going house with a silver medal!”
Regardless of the spectacular strikes on present, Phil Wizard stated the panel of judges had been searching for “one thing new each spherical”.
“It’s possible you’ll nicely suppose it’s probably the most explosive, loopy dynamic actions that rating probably the most factors,” he stated.
“However in breaking, there’s a number of totally different classes and an important factor is originality and variety of motion.”
The B-Boys carry out on a round stage, accompanied by DJs pumping out hip-hop classics and MCs hyping up the group.
Breaking originated within the block events held within the Bronx in New York within the Nineteen Seventies.
B-Boy Victor, often known as Victor Montalvo, stated the competitors represented “the true essence of hip hop and breaking tradition”.
“We simply wish to ensure that we present everybody that it’s a dance, to start with,” stated Victor, who beat Japan’s Shigekix for the bronze medal.
“It’s all about self-expression, it’s all about originality. It’s not nearly large strikes.”
