Canada's Kim wins gold in men's breaking at Paris Olympics

PARIS — Phil Kim was the first, and for the foreseeable future, the only Olympic champion in men's breaking.

The 27-year-old from Vancouver, known in his breaking circles as B-Boy Phil Wizard, captured gold at Place de la Concorde on Saturday.

The Canadian dominated his final battle with host-country favourite Danis Civil (Dany Dann) of France by winning all three rounds and taking 23 of a possible 27 votes from the judges.

The 2022 world champion and reigning Pan American Games champion Kim was a favourite in the performance sport making its Olympic debut in Paris.

It isn't on the menu in Los Angeles in 2028 nor is it certain to return in Brisbane, Australia, in 2032.

The sunny, charismatic Kim was that throughout his bouts Saturday, but he shed tears both on the podium during O Canada, in interviews afterward and when he embraced his mother Gilsoo, father Byung Tae and brothers Daniel and John.

"I was stressed out of my mind," Kim said. "Yesterday, I cried my eyes out because I was so scared to do this.

"There's been a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations. I'm glad I was able to deliver. More than anything I'm glad I just enjoyed the moment. I truly had a lot of fun today.

"This is history in the making for us, so it's incredible."

The Olympic Games brought from its urban hip-hop roots to a broader international sport stage a sport that pushes the limits of human body movement performed to a beat.

"I hope it opens doors for people," Kim said. "I've dedicated my life to this and so have all of us competing today, and it's an underappreciated sport."

The breakers were not forewarned of the beat provided by DJ's Phlash One and Fleg, but expressed the music when they heard it through footwork, freezes, transitions, power moves, tricks and flips.

The men's creative instincts worked as hard as their bodies Saturday to avoid repetition and impress the judges at the packed temporary venue that also served as the site of three-on-three basketball in Paris.

Kim dropped just one round in the group stage in which battles are two rounds, but defeated Ukraine's Oleh Kuznetsov (Kuzya) 10-8 in overall votes en route to topping his group undefeated.

Kim started the knockout stage by ousting Lee-Lou Diouf Demierre, better known as Lee, of the Netherlands 3-0 (19-8) in a quarterfinal.

Kim knocked Shigeyuki Nakarai (Shigekix) to the bronze-medal bout with a 3-0 (17-10) victory in the semifinal.

Reigning world champ Victor Montalvo of the United States, who is known simply as Victor, defeated the Japanese for bronze.

"It was next level. Everyone was on their A-game," Montalvo said. "It was very difficult, maybe the most difficult of my career, but it was fun."

After sweeping Civil 2-0 in his bout of the day, Kim unleashed a dizzying array of sequences in the gold-medal battle to best the Frenchman again.

"I was lucky, because I battled Danny Dan early on in the round-robin, and so I knew what to expect going into it," Kim said.

Breakers are judged on technique, vocabulary — which is variety of moves, styles, and transitions — execution, musicality and originality with each counting for 20 per cent of the score.

"It's my spontaneity," Kim explained. "I go up there with truly nothing in my head. I just go up there and whatever the music dictates me to do, I do.

"Because of that, I can create some magic moments."

Nine judges, who also go by single names, warmed up the crowd with their own breaking session as they were introduced.

MCs Malik and Max had to urge spectators to stop booing the elimination of acrobatic Hiroto Ono (Hiro10) of Japan from the group stage.

"To the naked eye, it's very easy to think that the person who's spinning the most, that is doing the craziest moves is going to win," Kim explained.

"All my respect to Hiro. He's an incredible person, an incredible kid. I have so much love for him, but there's a lot of details within the dance.

"For us, it's all about style and originality. I hope people continue to watch breaking and start to understand."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2024.