Paris 2024 breaking: All results, as B-Girl Ami wins inaugural Olympic gold - and then some
In about five hours on Friday (9 August) at La Concorde, AmIâs life changed.
With a win over reigning world champion Nicka in the Paris 2024 final, the Japanese B-Girl became the first womenâs breaking champion in Olympic history.
When she returns to Japan in a couple of days, it will all hit Ami hard and fast. The attention. The money. The flood of media requests. She will be Ami the Olympic gold medallist. No longer just B-Girl Ami.
But Ami would prefer that everything stays the same - other than breaking gaining more recognition at home and abroad.
âI donât want my life to change,â Ami told Olympics.com, after sweeping Nicka 3-0 to top the podium. âI mean it in a good way, but I donât want to change much myself.
âIâm happy breaking will get more attention as a result but itâs not all about the winners in this sport. It so happens that I won today when everyone showed what they were made of. Another day, another time, things could have turned out entirely differently.
âI couldnât be happier if people learn about the beauty of breaking - and not only about the gold medal.â
From left, silver medallist Nicka, gold medallist Ami and 671, winner of the bronze medal.
Japan coach Katsu One says Ami is as stubborn as they come. Katsu One has worked with Ami, now 25, ever since she got serious about breaking even before becoming a teenager.
âShe hasnât changed the least bit,â he said. âBut itâs that stubbornness which keeps her focused. And now sheâs No. 1 in the world.
âShe has incredible instincts. Sheâs never fazed by who sheâs up against. Mentally she was in a good place throughout the entire day. That, and the preparation she put in, all came together.â
Throughout four phases of competition, Ami was her usual self. She wouldnât have it any other way. There was no extra from her.
But thatâs how Ami operates. Her most memorable battle of the day was not the final, but the quarter-final against Franceâs Syssy because she realised she could be herself on the grandest stage the sport hadnât seen.
âIt still hasnât sunk in yet but Iâm over the moon. Really. Iâm probably happier than I think I am. Iâm just on cloud nine at the moment so once I come down to earth, Iâll try to take it in bit by bit.
âMore than the final, when I won the quarter-final, I thought to myself, wow, I can do this - on this stage. In the semi-final, I was really at ease because win or lose, Iâd still have the third-place battle.
âSo I knew then I could dance to the best of my ability and from there I just wanted to have fun. Looking back on it now, I wasnât thinking about a medal that much - and it worked to my favour.â
Breaking: Women's podium
Gold: Ami, Japan
Silver: Nicka, Lithuania
Bronze: 671, People's Republic of China