Canadian b-boy Phil Wizard (Philip Kim) took gold in the first Olympic men’s breaking tournament Saturday.
“I never thought I’d be here in my life,” the 27-year-old said, wiping away tears. He spent the last few sleepless nights “tossing and turning” because he was “stressed out of my mind.”
“I cried yesterday because I was so scared to do this, and, I’m just happy. I’m just happy,” he said.
Hometown favorite French b-boy Dany Dann (Danis Civil) won silver, and American b-boy Victor (Victor Montalvo) took the bronze after taking out Japanese b-boy Shigekix (Shigeyuki Nakarai). These Olympic medals may be the last for breaking, at least for some time — the dance form is not in the lineup of sports for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
What do you guys think about all the cultural appropriation concerns for breaking in the Olympics?
Edit: Re-read my question (left it unedited), and it appears “all the cultural appropriation concerns” means I think that it raises said concerns. It would have been much better written as “all the people raising concerns” or “all the concerns being raised.”
Woopsie.
Man fuck all the downvoters, this is a perfectly valid question. If they started a haka competition people wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss this.
To answer you question, no idea, never thought of it. I’m pretty ignorant of break culture but I’d be interested to hear what those in the culture think of it’s inclusion.
I’m not convinced cultural appropriation, in the pejorative sense, is a valid concept. In all the examples of cultural appropriation I’ve seen that I agree are bad, there’s a better way to explain why it’s bad. For example, wearing Native American headdresses isn’t bad because a white person does it; it’s bad because it’s something you have to earn, like a medal, and the white people using it as a costume haven’t earned it. It would be equally disrespectful for a Native American to do the same thing.
Cultural appropriation is bullshit is what I think. Let people adapt and improvise. Anything else is pure conservatism.
Cultural appropriation is not bullshit. Look at the history of black people in america. Their art forms were copied by white people, sanitized, then sold to the masses with zero credit or compensation given to them. I’m not saying that only black people should be able to perform or enjoy those art forms, but there is a significant difference between respectful imitation and theft. Art forms that were created in large part due to the oppression they were put through, were copied with zero respect or acknowledgement, then repackaged and sold to the very people oppressing them. If you can’t see how that is a bad thing then idk what to say.
To be clear I’m not arguing break being included in the olympics is cultural appropriation, that’s for the culture to decide not me.
I think its a way to argue that sports developed by certain groups shouldn’t be allowed in the Olympics because then those who didn’t traditionally develop said sport might compete in them. It results in exclusion, which is worse than the risk of cultural appropriation IMO.
Why is exclusion worse than cultural appropriation? I’m excluded from the traditions of the first nations people where I live because I’m not first nations, is that a bad thing?
Most sports are not as recent as break and do not have the same cultural significance. Break was developed by an oppressed people who have historically had their artistic creations repackaged and sold without their involvement. I have no idea whether breaks inclusion in the games is cultural appropriation but I don’t feel like you are giving the proper context to the conversation.
So then they should never have the chance to perform their sports at the Olympics or on an international stage? Representation matters. It wasn’t just white ladies break dancing at the Olympics.
