Breaking Good – First Gold Awarded in New Olympic Sport
by Philip Barker at Place de la Concorde, Paris
Japanese breaker “Ami”, known offstage as Ami Yuasa won the first Olympic gold medal to be awarded in breaking. She defeated “Nika” Dominika Banevic of Lithuania 3-0 after receiving 16 votes to 11.
There was scarcely a seat to be had when rapper Snoop Dogg delivered the “Trois Coups” the striking of a staff three times to alert spectators to the start of competitions. This ritual, borrowed from the French theatre, has accompanied the start of every Olympic event here at Paris 2024.
The first to take the stage in the B-Girls competition were India of the Netherlands, real name India Sarjoe, and Tanash of the Refugee Olympics, known in everyday life as Manizha Talash, originally from Afghanistan. Tanash was later officially disqualified because at one stage she wore a tabard with the words “Free Afghan Women.”
This was deemed contrary to rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.
The official ruling said:
Summary: B-Girl Talash was disqualified for displaying a political slogan on her attire during the Pre-Qualifier battle. Results have been updated accordingly.”
India went on to reach the semi-final where she lost to Ami.
In the bronze medal battle she went down to Liu Qingyi, known in breaking circles as B-Girl 671.
There had been a lot of attention earlier for Australian academic Rachael Gunn who is researching the cultural influence of breaking.
Breaking was included in the Games only for Paris and officials cannot fail to be have been impressed by the full stands and enthusiastic reception for the sport in the urban sports complex at the Place de La Concorde.
The World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1997, but there were attempts to include dance sports even before the second world war.
At the 1935 IOC Session held in Oslo, the Olympic Organising Committee had suggested its inclusion at the Berlin 1936 Games.
In those days, medals were awarded for art at the Games.
The official minutes record that “A proposal of the Organizing Committee that a
dance competition should be added to the Art Competition received only five votes and was not accepted.”
There were however dance performances during the Berlin Games.
After the war, the organisers of London 1948 received applications to include national folk dancing. This was turned down alongside model yachting, women’s hockey, lacrosse, gliding, baseball, rugby table tennis and trap shooting.
To the surprise of many, breaking was passed over for Los Angeles 2028.
The attendances and atmosphere in Paris suggest that might have been a premature decision.
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