Who are the four U.S. breaking athletes competing at the Olympic Qualifier Series?
Breaking
Get ready to get down with the skilled breakers of Team USA at the upcoming Olympic Qualifier Series.
Breaking, a sport born in New York City's Bronx borough, was originally featured at the Summer Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018. The Olympic Games Paris 2024 marks the sports’ official debut in the Olympic programme.
A total of 32 athletes, 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls, will be competing to earn the first-ever Olympic breaking medals, but first, they’ll need to qualify.
The U.S. will be represented by four breakers, two of whom have already secured quotas: Sunny Choi (B-Girl Sunny), who earned gold at the 2023 Pan Am Games, and Victor Montalvo (B-Boy Victor), who qualified with his win at the 2023 WDSF World Breaking Championship.
The final battle for the remaining quotas will take place in the two-part Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai and Budapest. The Shanghai stop will be held at the Huangpu Riverside from 16 to 19 May 2024, with the Budapest event set to take place at the Ludovika Campus from 20 to 23 June 2024.
Four U.S. breakers will be among the 80 competitors competing at the OQS in what will definitely be a memorable battle for Paris 2024.
- How to qualify for breaking at Paris 2024
- Breaking at the Olympic Qualifier Series: Everything you need to know
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Who are the American B-Girls competing at the Olympic Qualifier Series?
B-Girl Logistix
The 20-year-old B-girl hailing from San Diego, California, has been breaking since 2011. B-Girl Logistix, aka Logan Edra, represents the Underground Flow world champion breaking crew. Her best results from the Breaking for Gold series include two second place finishes at the BfG World Series Porto and Tokyo and 3rd place at the Pan American Continental Championships.
She’s currently the top-ranked U.S. women’s breaker and is ranked 8th in the world in the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) rankings.
B-Girl Logistix is a second-generation Filipino American; she told Vogue that she credits her work ethic to her upbringing, “I think my discipline definitely comes from my family,” she shares, “The work ethic was always my edge when I was younger—working harder than everyone else in the room.”
Ahead of the OQS, Logistix told Breaking For Gold, “This Olympic journey has a been a roller coaster of emotions. I’m hyped to represent myself, represent where I’m from, my lineage, culture and hip hop.”
B-Girl La Vix
B-Girl La Vix, aka Emily Chang, has been breaking for 15 years, but the 33-year-old from San Jose, California, didn’t actually start dancing and competing until her college years at UC Berkley.
In 2021, she decided to leave her job as a restoration ecologist to dedicate herself full-time to breaking. The duality of urban breaking and her career as a restoration ecologist who enjoys hiking and camping is captured in her tagline, “celebrating nature through movement.”
B-Girl La Vix described her breaking style to Team USA as: “I don’t do the big power or dynamic moves, but my strength is in the details.” She shares that the diverse music and dance culture of the Bay Area influences her breaking style.
She qualified for the OQS with a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games—her first international podium—along with 5th and 7th place finishes in the BfG series. She’s currently ranked 21st in the world.
Who are the American B-Boys competing at the Olympic Qualifier Series?
B-Boy Gravity
B-Boy Gravity, aka Miguel Rasario, is currently ranked 15th in the world in breaking. The 33-year-old father of five was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he got his start in the sport.
Before he discovered breaking, he was a gifted competitive gymnast competing to be a part of the 2012 Olympic gymnastics team. At age 16, he fell in love with energy and expression of breaking, choosing to change directions and focus on this emerging lifestyle and sport. Thanks to his athletic background, he quickly became one of the top B-boys on the circuit.
B-Boy Gravity lives up to his name in his dancing, with gravity-defying airs and technical moves that reference his gymnastics background.
He now has 18 years of experience in the sport. His recent top finishes include 4th place at the Pan American Games and 3rd at the BfG World Series in Montpellier.
B-Boy Jeffro
B-Boy Jeffro, aka Jeffrey Louis, was introduced to breaking by his older brother when he was 12. Born in Houston, Texas, to Haitian parents, he says he first fell in love with breaking because of the freedom of movement, but now it’s the potential that keeps him motivated. He continues to dance with a mix of breakers, whom he grew up with in school and his older brother.
B-boy Jeffro earned a silver medal at the Pan American Games to advance to the OQS. He also won the BfG Challenge series in Montreal and finished 2nd at the BfG World Series in Kitakyushu, Japan. He’s currently ranked 22nd in the world.
Jeffro shared that his goal for the OQS with Olympics.com is to “go into the mindset of being free. We’re artists first, and I enjoy the personal style that breaking has and the freedom of movement that breaking allows.”
You can follow these athletes from Team USA breaking as they attempt to secure a quota for Paris 2024 at the Olympic Qualifier Series, which takes place in Shanghai from 16-19 May and Budapest from 20-23 June.