B-Girl Stefani and B-Boy Lussy Sky: How we hope to inspire the people of Ukraine through breaking
Stefani, the European Games silver medallist, and fellow breaker Lussy Sky talk to Olympics.com about their reasons for breaking: “I hope I can bring at least something to help my country”
Breaking
Ukrainian breakers B-Girl Stefani and B-Boy Lussy Sky are competing for more than just personal glory.
The conflict in their home country and the challenges facing their loved ones have forced them to reassess their reasons for taking part in the sport they love.
Stefani, who won silver in the breaking competition at the European Games 2023 where she narrowly missed out on automatic qualification for the inaugural Olympic breaking competition at Paris 2024, and Lussy Sky, a talented dancer with a budding music career, still have personal goals in their sport.
Family, including Stefani’s seven-month-old baby, and a strong desire to win, both feature high on their list of reasons for competing.
But now they share a different motivation to reach the next Olympic Games: to give hope to the people of Ukraine through their sport.
“This is my goal: to inspire my people, because my country is inspiring me,” 25-year-old Stefani said in an interview with Olympics.com at the European Games in Poland. “I’m not living there for now but all my family live in Ukraine and my country is inspiring me a lot because I see how they are fighting, how they do everything for me to be here (in London), for my family to live a good life.
“I want to do for them everything that I can. I want to show all the world that Ukrainian people are good people, strong people… we show love, we show peace and want our families and kids to be happy.
“I hope I can bring at least something to help my country.”
Lussy Sky: “We’re also doing it for them, to give them motivation to keep going”
For Lussy Sky, there is a similar reason for travelling the world to compete in breaking.
“That’s why we’re doing [this here], not just at WDSF competitions (World DanceSport Federation) or qualification for Olympics, we joined this competition - for sure to represent ourselves - but first of all to represent our country.”
And the 32-year-old, who first discovered breaking in 1999, hopes his performances on the stage can inspire his people to “keep going” even in the face of challenges they previously could never have imagined.
“We’re still going everywhere. You know why? Because we have to do it,” he told us.
“If we are here in Europe, if we have a chance to join this competition and to represent our country, for us it’s a big motivation to also give inspiration to the people who are stuck in Ukraine.
“Because a lot of my friends who are dancing, who are B-Boys and B-Girls, are stuck in Ukraine.
“Of course we’re doing this not just for the country but we’re also doing it for them, to help them, to give them motivation to keep going. Because this is really important.”