B-girl Ami Wins Gold in Olympics’ Inaugural Breaking Event

By Takao Inoue / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

16:55 JST, August 10, 2024

Japanese b-girl Ami won all three breaking rounds against Lithuanian b-girl Nicka in the final round of the women’s breaking event at the Paris Olympics.

Ami, whose full name is Ami Yuasa, was crowned the first queen of the new Olympic event and said bashfully, “Now that it’s an Olympic sport, I think I’m able to convey to many people how amazing breaking is.”

The biggest twist was during the semifinals, when the Netherlands’ young and energetic b-girl India presented a great challenge to the Japanese competitor.

“I had no choice but to go for it,” Ami said.

In the third and final battle, Ami won by exciting the audience with an original move that included a pose in which she lay on her back and gestured shooting a gun. She used that move earlier than expected — originally she had planned to save it until the end — but decided to put that behind her, thinking, “I just have to enjoy it.”

Breaking began as way for gangs to peacefully resolve conflicts. Ami maintains breaking’s original style, in which the dancer performs while looking at the other person and pays close attention to the smallest movements.

She also likes playfully provoking others and believes “breaking is a culture.”

In the finals, the breakers’ attention to the details of each technique and their flowing aesthetics were evident to both the judges and the audience at the Place de la Concorde.

“I was able to express myself,” Ami said.