Paris 2024: Making History at the First Olympic Breaking Event Ever 

On Friday at 4 PM, history was made at Parc Urbain, Place de la Concorde, with the first-ever Olympic Breaking event. Showcasing the "crème de la crème, de la crème, de la crème" of B-Girls, as MC Max passionately declared, the audience knew they were witnessing something special—or at least, they sure knew how to act like it. Adrenaline pumped through the blood of everyone in the crowd and it was as if the walls themselves were pulsing to the beat. The thunderous stomping of feet in the stadium could be heard for miles, and for hours...and here’s why.

As we sat, impatiently waiting to be part of this historic day, the smell of fresh crêpes and sun cream—an oddly pleasing mix—danced in the air, almost as much as the battlers. But as we would soon discover, perhaps not quite as mesmerising.

Kicking off the event, the high-energy MC duo lit up the crowd with some interactive hype. Spitting rhythmic bars from the round stage, the vibey pair kept us buzzing between every battle. Not unlike a scene from Eminem's popular hip-hop movie 8 Mile, they had everyone convinced to wave their hands in the air, like we were all born to simply groove with each other.

And then, finally, one of them said the words we were all waiting to hear:

"Please welcome to the stage... the history makers!"

And the crowd goes absolutely wild for the first-ever Olympic Breaking event in history. Surrounded by a sea of colourful supporters and energised by the hottest music at the DJ decks, the B-Girls had every single spectator jamming along with them for the next six hours.

The B-Girls qualification round, Round Robin, brought us 24 electrifying battles. In a sport where every spin, trick and move happens in a heartbeat, everyone sat glued to the action—no phones in sight. Instead, they were fully captivated by the magic unfolding on stage, afraid to miss a thing.

We were sat on the edge of our seats, and the B-Girls were balanced on the edge of any limb they had available to them. But there was a catch for them which you may not be aware of. In any battle, the B-Girls and B-Boys are not permitted to perform the same moves more than once in any given sequence, making that limb balancing just a bit more complicated. So, as they swindled us by levitating on one hand, we had a moment to appreciate just how challenging this sport is.

"50 years," announced MC Max.

"This was 50 years in the making and now it's finally on this big beautiful stage." he added, noting the journey it took for Breaking to be recognised as an Olympic Sport.

The DJ duo that pumped up each mix was New York DJ and B-boy DJ Fleg, and Polands DJ Plash. The two could have provided the City of Light with the energy it needs for the next month given the electricity they generated at the decks. Continuoulsy switching between various styles and genres of music, we heard everything from jazz to pop to CHIC to rap to Afrobeats and of course hip-hop, among many more.

Worry about the music set in only when MC Max sounded somewhat concerned just as the pair played a remix of Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise for Ying Zi and Ellamouny's battle.

"Uh oh," he said over the mic.

The audience rumbled, yet left enough peace to hear what MC Max had to say next.

"Oh no, there's a sick beat coming." he fifnished. The crowd cheered louder than ever for what could have been the battlers, or for the edgy commentary by the MC's. Either way the place was erupting with noise that Joel Silberg would no doubt have approved of, if he were there.

Not to worry, Snoop was there and he definitely approved.

"It's about to go down"

It was just over halfway through the qualifiers competition, and while it did in fact "go down" as the French MC predicted, the energy at the arena only went up. We moved, hopped, grooved and bopped alongside each of the qualifiers, and to be honest, at this point I was sweating. 'How are these girls doing this?' I thought to myself.

I was glad to get a brief break (no pun intended) when I was stopped in my tracks by my first-ever live 'baby freeze.' And that’s exactly what I did—baby, I froze. I was not alone in the audience to be in complete awe of these talented Breakers.

The jazz trumpet on the backtrack along with a human orchestra of support was just what this party needed to keep going. The 'whoops', 'wees' and bellows of the audience on the floor, in the stands and everywhere else, had the entire Place de la Concorde concerened that we might just be having more fun than the rest of them. We probably were.

There were flags lining the outskirts of the Arena to match the ones wrapped around the shoulders of the supports inside – proving the global interest in this new Olympic sport.

People had come from all over the world to see this event. Among the thousands of spectators were Canada's original B-Boy crew founders; Mr Quick, and Buddha.

"Our crew – the Canadian Floor Masters – is 41 years old so we're the OG B-Boy crew in Canada. We used to drive down to the Bronx and hang out with the New York City Breakers and all those OG crews too, so we know a thing or two about B-Boying," said Buddha.

"This is not just something we like, this is our lives and it's in the Olympics so how could we not be here." he said.

"The neat part about this story right now is that it has a start, and that was 41 years ago," continued Mr Quick.

"People said this was a fad back then and I said 'no, we consider this a sport' and what do you know all this time later, we made it to the Olympics." he added.

Buddha, who teaches Breaking to prisoners, has organised battles in the Canada House. Among the opponents were the Paris City Breakers, another group with 41 years in the industry. Buddha plans to work with the Canadian and French governments in hopes to teach the French crews how to offer Breaking to French prisoners in the future.

"I want this day to last forever"

As the qualifiers came to a close, and the knock outs lead to the finals, the first day of Breaking events was nearly over.

Unfortunately for the organisers, they had their work cut out for them with the lively and never tiring spectators. Thankfully for them and their voices however, they were relieved by the performances of special guest acts.

Two incredible performances showcased that there are no limits to Breaking or the fusions it inspires, much like the rendition of Ballet v Breaking that we saw last night.

When the competeition had ended and the audience reluctantly started to leave, there was an odd atmosphere in the air. It wasn't a sad feeling, nor a particularly energetic one. But maybe, just a recognition for what happened on this day, the day we all made history together. Lucky for us, we get to do it all again today at the B-Boy Breaking events.