Paris 2024 breaking: All results, as Canada's Phil Wizard spellbinds France's Dany Dann for men's Olympic gold
Hat trick for Phil Wizard. And for the time being, heâs one of one.
The Canadian B-Boy won the first men's breaking gold medal with a 3-0 victory over Dany Dann of France at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Saturday, 10 August, bringing two days of the dance sport competition to a close.
Wizard has won the world and continental championships, and his triumph over the home-crowd favourite at La Concorde for the Olympic title gives him the full set. With breaking not on the cards at LA 2028, that puts Wizard â his real name Philip Kim â in some exclusive company for the time being.
âHonestly, I'm still processing it,â the 27-year-old told Olympics.com. âIt went by so fast, but it feels incredible. This is history in the making, and honestly I never thought I would be here.â
Phil Wizard is your first-ever B-Boy Olympic champion.
Arguably the four best B-Boys in the world reached the semi-finals. In addition to the finalists, current world champion Victor of the USA and Asian champion Shigekix made it to the final four. The gold could have ended up in anyoneâs hands.
Wizardâs path to the final came at the expense of Shigekix, who was tipped by many to top the podium. Shigekix, the Japanese superstar, not only lost 3-0 but missed out on a medal altogether after falling at the hands of Victor in the battle for bronze.
In the final, Wizard â who has the total package, everything from athleticism to creativity to musicality â had to fight not just Dann but the deafening crowd as well, yet still prevailed comfortably 3-0, 23 votes to 4.
Wizard said his toughest battle on the day was his quarter-final against Dutchman, who he believes is the most talented B-Boy on the planet.
âGoing into it for me was Lee because for me, Lee's the best B-Boy in the world,â he said. âHe's incredibly talented and he's one of my closest friends. That was the one, I honestly went into it thinking, that I'd probably lose after.
âI was just kind of happy to win that and was just doing my best to take it one step at a time.â
And Wizard got there in the end. But he feels the real winner was not him â it was the sport of breaking as a whole.
âYeah my expectations were to lose to be completely honest," he said. "There was a lot of pressure and a lot of external expectations, a lot of people thinking that I would bring home gold because I was ranked very high throughout the process.
âBut to me and to the breaking community, ranking doesn't really mean anything to us. You could lose to someone that's significantly lower rank than you on any given day. I'm happy today that I was consistent with my performance.
âI mean, I'm just kind of over the moon right now. Iâm still processing.â
Breaking: Men's podium
Gold: Phil Wizard, Canada
Silver: Dany Dann, France
Bronze: Victor, USA