Pan American Games 2023: B-Boy Phil Wizard and B-Girl Sunny take breaking gold and secure Olympic quotas
Breaking finals were an event unlike any other at the Pan American Games and yielded a full house complete with an electric crowd
Breaking finals at the 2023 Pan American Games were a scene out of the Step-Up movies, complete with fog machines, parachute pants and big gold hoops, with a lot at stake.
The quarterfinalists went head-to-head on Saturday (4 November) at the Gimnasio Chimkowe for a continental title and quota to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and Canada's B-Boy Phil Wizard and Team USA's B-Girl Sunny came out on top to take gold and secure the quotas.
"This is history in the making. I've been living my dream for the past few years. I've been living off of this dance. I've been living off of breaking, that's all I ever wanted," B-Boy Phil Wizard told Olympics.com after stepping down from the podium.
It was the continental debut for the sport in the Americas and the scene brought a full house. The crowd was loving the action and between the noise from their cheers and the beats bumping from the DJs, the arena was literally shaking.
Jeffro of Team United States competes against Phil Wizard of Team Canada on Breaking - B-Boys Gold Medal Match on Day 15 of Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games on November 04, 2023 in Santiago, Chile.
Phil Wizard battled USA's B-Boy Jeffro for the title, and between his power moves, rhythm and style, he took the win as the heavy favourite from the judges.
The highlight of the night for the majority of the crowd was the men's bronze medal match, as Chile's B-Boy Matita took the win over Team USA's B-Boy Gravity and the arena exploded --- Matitas' team jumped onto the stage as he collapsed in disbelief and the crowd sounded like it could have been heard throughout the city of Santiago.
Sunny took the semi-finals over Canada's B-Girl Tiff in a unanimous best-of-three vote from the judges and then took on Colombia's B-Girl Luma in the final, collapsing onto the ground as the results were revealed, and she had secured her spot in Paris.
B-Girl Sunny spoke to Olympics.com after her victory and obtaining her Olympic quota, saying "that was a reality I never foresaw for myself. I was working full-time, corporate, not very happy. This has given me opportunity to just like completely change my life and [I'm] just really grateful."
The three final B-Girls, Sunny, La Vix and Tiff, wore contageous smiles as they battled, looking like they were having the time of their lives.
Unlike any other sport at the Pan Am Games, it was the judges that kicked off the night of breaking. All 10 came out to throw down and put their own skills on display as they were introduced to the crowd. Once they took their seats, the international panel scored the B-Boys and B-girls on technique, originality, execution, vocabulary and musicality.
