Canadian b-boy Phil Wizard (Philip Kim) took gold in the first Olympic men’s breaking tournament Saturday.
“I never thought I’d be here in my life,” the 27-year-old said, wiping away tears. He spent the last few sleepless nights “tossing and turning” because he was “stressed out of my mind.”
“I cried yesterday because I was so scared to do this, and, I’m just happy. I’m just happy,” he said.
Hometown favorite French b-boy Dany Dann (Danis Civil) won silver, and American b-boy Victor (Victor Montalvo) took the bronze after taking out Japanese b-boy Shigekix (Shigeyuki Nakarai). These Olympic medals may be the last for breaking, at least for some time — the dance form is not in the lineup of sports for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
I’m not convinced cultural appropriation, in the pejorative sense, is a valid concept. In all the examples of cultural appropriation I’ve seen that I agree are bad, there’s a better way to explain why it’s bad. For example, wearing Native American headdresses isn’t bad because a white person does it; it’s bad because it’s something you have to earn, like a medal, and the white people using it as a costume haven’t earned it. It would be equally disrespectful for a Native American to do the same thing.