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Loud, wild and adaptable – the Olympics are upside down
With Breaking, Summer Games ventured onto the dance floor. The B-Girls started it all. This was the spectacle on the Place de la Concorde.
Golden Performance: Ami Yuasa won the Olympic premiere award for Breaking with her unusual moves
Photo: Odd Anderson (AFP)
They dance wildly to the music and flop themselves to the ground in artful ways. Tie your arms and legs together and continue to spin on your own axis. Lying on your back, on your stomach or upside down. They roll over their shoulders, hyperextend their backs, scissor their legs and hold the most impossible positions. A mesmerizing spectacle.
Yuasa Ami’s performance on Friday made the 25-year-old Japanese athlete the first Olympic champion to break the gymnastics barrier. In the final, she defeated Lithuanian world champion Dominika Banevic, who competes under her nickname “Nika”. Liu Qingyi won the bronze medal. The Chinese woman simply calls herself “671”.
Winning gold: Ami Yuasa, who competed under her own name, was delighted with the win
Photo: Elsa (Getty Images)
It takes some getting used to for a dance sport that was invented in the slums of New York City but will now be baptized at the Olympics on Friday.Here you can learn how the sport works). First it was the turn of the women, who were called B-Girls in Breaking. On Saturday it was the turn of the B-Boys.
The IOC’s move to bring breakdancing to the big stage in 2024 has been criticized from all sides. He raised the question of what breaking has to do with sports. What has happened time and again in the past is that a former youth sport suddenly becomes a serious sport. Examples include snowboarding, freestyle skiing or skateboarding.
Yet a layman’s visit to the Plaza de Condorcet shows that what’s on display is certainly quite sporty. A lot of it. Shooting and golf, to take two controversial examples, are certainly more sweaty than this.
Weightlessness: American Logan Edra, aka Logistx, performs a backflip during his duel with Frenchman Sya Dembélé, aka “Syssy”.
Photo: Dan Himbrechts (EPA)
The world turned upside down: Dutch B songstress India Sardjoe finished fourth in her Olympic debut.
Photo: Elsa (Getty Images)
Very tangled: Ukrainian B-girl Katerina Pawlenko (“Kate”) during a performance
Photo: Elsa (Getty Images)
Each saboteur has one minute, then it’s her opponent’s turn. The duel is more of a silent conversation than a duel. Mutual respect is palpable at all times.
The judges evaluate technique, difficulty, choreography, expression and style. Breaker’s sometimes breathtaking moves are obviously the result of thousands of rehearsals and practice, but it’s the ability to improvise that sets B-girls apart.
Because: They didn’t know in advance what music the Breakers would dance to. Two DJs set the tune and the tempo. They were placed in front of a giant cassette player. Appropriately, the competition area was modeled after a record player.
Like a big DJ booth: the Arena on the Place de la Concorde.
Photo: Frank Franklin (Keystone)
Typically, the music during the breaks set the pace of the action under the massive circus roof. Hip-hop, R&B and funk blasted from the speakers as two emcees eloquently presided over the nearly five-hour event.
This is the most obvious (or noticeable?) difference from the sport’s traditional representation: in tennis or beach volleyball, the music echoes through the court between rallies, while it is always loud during breaks.
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