PARIS – India Sardjoe is 18, has a mouth full of braces and is on the hunt.

“I really like exchanging pins in the Olympic Village,” she said on Friday after competing in the first Olympic breaking competition at La Concorde. The 2022 world champion, known in the sport of breaking as B-Girl India, was one of the favorites at the start of the competition but narrowly missed the medal ranks, losing the bronze medal match to China’s B-Girl 671, aka Liu Qingyi.

In the end, Japan’s B-Girl Ami, aka Ami Yuasa, defeated Lithuania’s B-Girl Nicka (Dominika Banevič) to win the gold medal.

“I wasn’t really focused on the medals,” said Ami. “In the final, I just wanted to show my… best. And I think I did that, yes.”

A large, enthusiastic and sometimes curious crowd, including Snoop Dogg in the afternoon session and IOC President Thomas Bach in the evening session, helped with breakdancing, a sport new here but one that will not be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In the afternoon, tension rose when Afghanistan’s Manizha Talash revealed a cape under her sweater that read “Free Afghan Women” in her qualifying match against India. Manash, who was a member of the Refugee Olympic Team, a 37-member group of displaced athletes from around the world, was officially disqualified from her match but had already lost it on points before she revealed her cape.

The debate will continue over whether breaking is leaving behind its past, which is deeply embedded in African-American culture, starting with young black teenagers dancing in the Bronx in the early 1970s and soon followed by Latino kids in the city. But for those who have pushed for breaking to be included in the Games, Friday was a big moment after about a decade of lobbying and building the sport in breaking leagues around the world.

The most important thing: people watched on TV. Some even watched it with excitement. Of course, it wasn’t popular everywhere. But what is like that these days?

Issues such as the appropriation and erasure of original breaking culture need to be addressed and heard more. But it was hard not to be impressed by the astonishing internationality of the inaugural event here, which reflected the diverse perspectives and stories of the estimated 30 million breakers worldwide.

B-girl Ami (Japan’s Ami Yuasa) won gold in the first Olympic breakdancing competition on Friday. “I just wanted to show my… everything,” she said. (Elsa / Getty Images)

The evening was loud and wild, with a stage for the DJs and the jury set up like a boombox, a tribute to the old days.

Friday’s MCs, Malik and Max, were from France and Portugal respectively. The DJs were American (DJ Fleg) and Polish (DJ Plash One). The music they played ran the gamut: “Heart ‘n Soul” by Booker T. Averheart; “Family Affair” by MFSB; “Blow Your Whistle” by DC go-go legends Chuck Brown and The Soul Searchers; “Mu Africa” ​​by The Rift Valley Brothers; “Boom!” by The Roots.

The final eight women came from France, Japan (B-Girl Ami and B-Girl Ayumi), China (B-Girl 671 and B-Girl Ying Zi), Ukraine (B-Girl Kate), France (B-Girl Syssy), the Netherlands (B-Girl India) and Lithuania (B-Girl Nicka). The two US breakers in the field, B-Girl Sunny (Sunny Choi) and B-Girl Logistx (Logan Edra), were eliminated before the quarterfinals. US breaker B-Boy Victor (Victor Montalvo) is one of the favorites for a medal in the men’s competition on Saturday.

“To be honest, I haven’t been able to process it all properly yet,” said Kate, full name Kateryna Pavlenko, who lost in the quarterfinals. “But I can’t believe it’s over. I’ve waited a long time for this day. Now it’s done for me. It feels great. I think everyone did a great job and I think the B-girls presented the breaking at a super high level. I’m very happy that I ended up in the top eight – the best B-girls in the world, I can say.”

The athletic ability of many of the breakers was astonishing as they twisted from top to bottom. B-Girl Ami, who seemed to have no solid spine, dominated French B-Girl Syssy 3-0 in the first quarterfinal and then took a narrow 2-1 victory over India in the semifinal. B-Girl 671 somehow seemed to change direction while balancing on her head. Nicka didn’t spin so much as float along the ground. Nicka defeated 671 2-1 in the semifinal; 671 defeated India to take bronze.

Someone asked 671 afterwards whether the tears in her eyes were because she was happy about winning the bronze medal or because she had missed the chance to win gold.

“Both,” she said. “The first Olympic Games I’m taking part in, the medal, I’m happy about that. But the fight also went a bit (badly). But I’m going to keep going anyway.”

From left: B-Girl Nicka (silver), B-Girl Ami (gold) and B-Girl 671 (bronze) show their medals from the first Olympic breakdance competition. (Elsa / Getty Images)

B-Girl Kate moved to Los Angeles shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Her family stayed there. This makes it all the more important for her to use breakdancing to send a message of hope and possibilities to her people back home.

“It’s very important because I was born there,” she said Friday. “It shaped me as a person. It made me who I am. Because of Ukraine, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be fair to represent another country. I’m Ukrainian. I was born and raised there. I left early. I know a lot of B-boys and B-girls are watching me, and I give them a little bit of hope to represent someone they can look up to. And for me, it’s the biggest reward of all. … If I can inspire or touch someone from Ukraine with my dancing, I’m happy.”

There will likely never be a happy marriage between the old and new schools of breakdancing. Perhaps a community of convenience is the best that can be achieved. The desire to monetize breakdancing in the United States and showcase it on larger platforms will likely make it impossible to keep it solely under the supervision and influence of the founders of the art form. But many in the new generation of breakdancing and breakers understand that attention must be paid to the founders and innovators who created the dance and on whose shoulders they stand.

“It’s a big responsibility to raise the bar for breaking every time,” Nicka said on Friday. “Because they did a great job. Big respect to the OGs and the pioneers who invented all these moves. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible. I’m grateful to them.”

GO DEEPER

The journey of a Ukrainian breaker to the Olympic Games in Paris

(Top photo of B-Girl Ami during Friday’s breaking competition at the Olympics: Elsa / Getty Images)