B-Boy Kid Karam riding breaking's Olympic wave both inside and outside the arena
The British star took up breaking as an eight-year-old and has a chance of securing Paris 2024 qualification at the European Games in Poland but Karam Singh is also seizing opportunities such as modelling and acting on his journey to Olympic Games history.
What started as a throwaway comment from a young Karam Singh to his family at home in Derby, England, could now result in a history-making moment at Paris 2024 when breaking debuts as an Olympic sport.
Talking exclusively to Olympics.com ahead of appearing at the 2023 European Games in Krakow, Poland, and a first opportunity to qualify for the Games in France in 13 months' time, B-Boy Kid Karam said: "I was at home, and I was watching a music video – I can't remember what it was, but I think it was Justin Timberlake where people were doing head spins and windmills and stuff in the back – and I was like, that looks really cool.
"So, I said to my family in the living room, I wanna do that one day. And it was just like a joke, a complete joke."
In one of those serendipitous moments, a few weeks later Singh headed to a local fair where he saw a crew performing those same moves. Buoyed by the vibe, Singh asked if he could join in. As is the case with the community-driven sport, the youngster was welcomed onto the stage where he "rolled around on my head a little bit and probably made a fool of myself".
Nevertheless, the bug took hold, and he hung out with the crew all day, "like a lost kid".
After finding out that eight years' old was the minimum age he could start classes, the very first Wednesday after his birthday saw Singh begin his weekly foray into the world of what is now called breaking.
Seven-year-old Singh would not have believed the journey his future self would go on after the fire was lit seeing breakdancing for the first time in that music video.
The now 25-year-old B-Boy Kid Karam is a potential contender for the sport's first-ever Olympic gold medal.
But he has to qualify and his first chance comes at the European Games in Poland, which takes place from 21 June to 2 July.
Breaking starts with the round-robin battles on Monday 26 June and the winners of the men's and women's solo finals, taking place Tuesday 27 June at the Park Strzelecki in Nowy Sacz, claim a place for themselves at Paris 2024.
"I could never say that I ever thought that I'd be representing Team GB as such," said Singh, Britain's official first-ever breaker courtesy of competing at the European Championships in November 2022, where he won silver.
"I always wanted to be the best in the world, and I've always wanted to do a lot for England, Great Britain, and where I come from, but I could have never imagined that it'd actually be in the Olympics."
Breaking's Olympic breakthrough
The young Singh was a natural, but a competitive leaning meant he also worked hard at his chosen past-time.
"I've always been very competitive from a young age," he told us. "So, I think that when I'd learned something, even if it was good or not good or semi-decent or semi sort of difficult, I'd go and I'd learn it and perfect it so that I could show it off next week to everybody else in the class to make sure that I was better."
That approach was to pay dividends as the initial urban social hang-out moved toward a more competitive arena.
"Obviously it's transitioned quite a lot over the last few years," said Singh. "I think when you think of breakdancing, people think about the natural stereotypes like busking in the streets... and people just doing it for fun.
"But over time it's sort of become more solo based, in a sense, where it's come away from the crews.
"Organisers put on solo events and you see sporting companies and big companies get involved and it's become much more professional in a sense where I feel like before it wasn't taken as seriously.
"But now it's gone down the sporting route, it gives it a little bit more of a definition... Being in the Olympics says everything that it needs to about it."
After a successful debut at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where upwards of 30,000 people came each day to immerse themselves in the festival-like vibe, breaking was confirmed as an Olympic sport in December 2020.
Singh and his contemporaries were blown away by the development.
"I could have never seen it (even) from a few years prior. I've always wanted to be the best in the world and being at the Olympics, representing your country on that stage is the best of the best.
"So, for me, if I was to get to the Olympics... I want to win gold, and if I do that, then I've achieved everything that I ever wanted to in this sport, in this dance. So, yeah, I'm really excited about it."
Fashion, music and movies – part of breaking culture
Singh admits to feeling "pretty overwhelmed" being part of Team GB in an official capacity at the Games in Poland, let alone the prospect of potentially qualifying for an Olympic Games.
"It's amazing to be out here, officially with Team GB, like that's just a bit of a roller coaster in itself and then being around all the other sports and seeing how the teams stick together – it's really nice. I'm actually really calm, really relaxed. I'm just ready to go, so yes, it's good energy, good energy."
The experience of a Games-style atmosphere is just serving to whet the appetite of all B-boys and B-girls taking part in Poland, which includes Singh's compatriots who are also vying for an Olympic place, with two spots per gender the maximum available per National Olympic Committee.
Other opportunities to qualify for Paris present themselves at the 2023 WDSF World Championships in Belgium from 22-24 September and the Olympic Qualifier Series from March-June 2024, in various locations.
But the journey away from the competitive arena is just as exciting for Singh, with opportunities his younger self couldn't have envisioned in his wildest dreams, including modelling for the likes of iconic sportswear brand Fred Perry, performing at The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, and playing the lead role in a Sky Original series, about the origins of the sport. Breaking Point is released on 14 July.
Oh, and you know what else Karam Singh has done? Appeared in a music video. Another 'Karam Singh' could have been inspired and started their own breaking journey as we speak.