Without a doubt, Phil Kim rewrote the breaking history. It’s expected, for many years to come, Phil Kim will be the only Olympic champion in the men’s breaking category. The Vancouver native, 27, who goes by B-Boy Phil Wizard in his underground circles, won gold on Saturday at the Place de la Concorde. The host nation’s favorite, Danis Civil (Dany Dann) of France, was defeated by the Canadian in all three rounds, and he received 23 of the 27 available votes from the judges.
In the performance sport making its Olympic debut in Paris, Phil Kim—the 2022 world champion and the current Pan American Games champion—was a favorite. The upbeat, charming Kim was that way during his fights on Saturday, but he cried on the O Canada stage, in interviews that followed, and when he gave his parents Byung Tae, Daniel, and John, a hug.
Phil Kim’s Emotional Journey
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From its urban hip-hop roots, the Olympic Games brought a sport that pushes the limits of human movement to music to a wider worldwide audience. In this game, Kim is not strange. However, his journey was not a bed of roses. “I was insanely stressed out,” the Gold medallist remarked. “I sobbed uncontrollably yesterday because I was so afraid to do this. It’s amazing because this is history in the making for us,” Phil Kim stated, “I hope it opens doors for people.”
The beat, which DJs Phlash One and Fleg delivered, was not disclosed to the breakers beforehand. So they used footwork, freezes, transitions, power moves, tricks, and flips to interpret the music as soon as they heard it. To impress the judges and avoid repetition, the men’s creative instincts exerted as much effort as their physical prowess on Saturday at the crowded temporary arena that doubled as the Paris three-on-three basketball court.
In the two-round group round, Phil Kim only lost one round against Oleh Kuznetsov (Kuzya) of Ukraine, winning 10-8 in total votes to go top of his group without losing. In the quarterfinal, Phil Kim defeated Lee-Lou Diouf Demierre, also known as Lee, of the Netherlands 3-0 (19-8) to begin the elimination stage. In the semifinal, Kim defeated Shigeyuki Nakarai (Shigekix) 3-0 (17-10) to go to the bronze-medal match.
Kim’s Dominant Performance
The Americans’ Victor Montalvo, also just Victor, is the current world champion. Phil Kim defeated the Japanese for bronze. “It was really impressive. Everybody was giving it their all,” Montalvo remarked. “It was enjoyable even though it was really challenging—possibly the hardest of my career.” In his match of the day, Kim easily defeated Civil 2-0.
Then, in the gold-medal match, Phil Kim used an incredible variety of moves to defeat the Frenchman once more. “Fortunately, I had already faced Danny Dan in the round-robin, so I knew what to anticipate,” Kim stated. Breakers receive 20 percent of the score for each of the following categories: technique, musicality, inventiveness, and vocabulary, which includes a range of maneuvers, genres, and transitions.
As they were introduced, the nine judges, who also go by single names, warmed up the audience with their breaking session. MCs Malik and Max had to tell the audience to quit jeering when Japan’s acrobatic Hiroto Ono (Hiro10) was eliminated from the group stage. But the way Phil Kim performed was mind-blowing.
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