Celebrate breaking history with Japan’s Ami Yuasa, aka B-Girl Ami, as she secures the first Olympic gold medal in breaking at the Paris Games! With her captivating routine in a pink sweatsuit, Ami wowed the judges!
What is breakdancing in the Olympics? (B-girl and B-boy)
B-Girl Ami Olympic Gold refers to a woman who break-dances or competes in breaking. Well, now it’s an Olympic sport! In the 2024 Paris Olympics, 16 B-girls competed against 16 B-boys in solo battles. The addition of breaking into the 2024 games was to add more appeal for younger audiences that are more into social media. They, the B-girls and B-boys, draw their inspiration from sources such as disparate s Brazilian capoeira, gymnas8tics, James Brown, and the martial arts. Their often creative moves have left many audiences in a gasp!
Who is the B-girl of Japan?
Yuasa Ami is a top-breaking 2008-born athlete from Saitama, Japan. At six, she was introduced to hip-hop music by her elder sister and, after that, she gradually started liking breaking. She chose “Ami”, the given name, as the B-Girl name for herself.
Ami’s break-dancing career
Ami entered the competitive scene in 2016, as she had a victory in a doubles competition with her sister, Ayu. But her first big triumph came in 2018, winning the BC One World Final.
In 2019, she became the champion of the WDSF World Breaking Championships. This title came in her bag once again in 2022. Another BC One World Final was on her name in 2023.
B-girls in the Olympics 2024
Ami won the Olympics’ first breaking gold by spinning, flipping, and toprocking her way past a field of 16 dancers in the high-energy competition, which may not return in future Games. Put against b-girl Nicka and Dominika Banevič of Lithuania, she took all three rounds in a battle to seal the gold and close the proceedings at the Place de la Concorde stadium, which had been a space for long hours of skill, rhythm, and flow.
The battling b-girls breakdanced to the b-boys’ beats, powerfully articulating dangerous moves like headspins, windmills, and backflips, not without fanfare that kept the crowd alert all night. From eight hopefuls out of the original 17, the dancers needed to fight their way through three rounds of the knockout stage to qualify for the finals. Banevič won silver, with China’s b-girl 671 (Liu Qingyi) taking the bronze following an epic battle with b-girl India (India Sardjo) from the Netherlands to “Boom!” by The Roots. A relative newcomer to the breaking scene, Liu.
A jury of nine judges, international b-boys and b-girls, scored the breakers based on the Trivium judging system: on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality, and originality — each accounts for 20% of the final score.
Gold medal for Japan’s B-girl
Yuasa had mesmerized everyone with her footwork, flow, and all manner of moves right from the first moment in the final, when the wall began to fill the air with a bevvy of breath excellently strung together, airs flares and halos. completely engrossed in the soundtrack that seemed to shake the wall, she let out her feelings with her arms in the air just after the results were announced in her favour.
I was searching for this exact content because it’s my first time seeing break dance as an Olympic sport. Thanks for explaining in detail. It’s so helpful.