Japan's Ami Yuasa put her name into the history books by becoming the first female to win the Olympic gold medal in the sport of breaking on Friday, August 9 at La Concorde in Paris.
Known as B-girl Ami, the 25-year-old from Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, had to win a total of six matches to top the podium. Her push for the inaugural title climaxed with a 3-0 victory (16 votes to 11) over Lithuania's Nicka (Dominika Banevic), a 17-year-old from Vilnius, in the final.
China's 671 (Qingyi Liu) edged India, aka India Sardjoe, a breaker from the Netherlands, 2-1 (19-8) for the bronze medal.
Breaking Gold Medalist Reacts After Her Victory
"It hasn't quite sunk in yet," Yuasa was quoted as saying by Kyodo News. "I'm supposed to be feeling really happy and possibly crying in joy, but it feels like I have not come back down to earth."
Added Yuasa, "It was all about how I could display myself. I didn't feel the pressure at all and I was able to show my true colors."
The sport combines spinning, dancing and headstands to music with a panel of nine judges evaluating performance and synchronicity with the beats. The challenge is made more difficult by the competitors having no prior knowledge of the music they will be dancing to.
There are two rounds in each bout during the round-robin portion and three rounds from the quarterfinals, with the judges voting for the dancer they believe won each round. Wearing a dark pink outfit with a white hat, Yuasa gave a high-energy performance and was victorious in each round in the final. She lost just one round (in the semifinals) the entire day.
The Path to Gold in the Breaking Competition
A total of 16 dancers were entered in the competition at the outset. Yuasa began her march to the gold with a 2-0 win (17-1) over Italy's Anti (Antilai Sandrini), before downing Morocco's Elmamouny (Fatima Zahra El Mamouny), 2-0 (18-0) in her second match.
In the quarterfinals, B-girl Ami blanked France's Syssy (Sya Dembele) 3-0 (25-2). Yuasa's toughest battle came in the semifinals where she edged India 2-1 (17-10).
Former world champion Ayumi Fukushima, aka B-girl Ayumi, was Japan's second dancer in the competition. The 41-year-old from Kyoto was eliminated in the quarterfinals 2-1 (17-10) by India.
"I had a lot of fun, but I felt like I didn't give it my best in the end," Fukushima commented.
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Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.
