Team USA’s Victor Montalvo Wins Bronze Medal in Breaking at Paris Olympics

Team USA triumphed during breaking’s first year as an Olympic sport, as Amercian b-body Victor took home the bronze medal.

On Saturday, Aug. 10, Victor (whose full name is Victor Montalvo) won the battle for bronze 3-0 against Japan’s Shigekix at La Concorde in Paris, according to a press release from Team USA.

The 30-year-old’s win comes just after he lost to France’s Dany Dann in the semifinal round, while Canada’s Phil Wizard beat out Shigekix. Montalvo initially finished at the top of group A, according to Team USA, and took out Amir of Kazakhstan 3-0 in the quarterfinal knockout round.

Phil Wizard, whose real name is Philip Kim, ultimately took home the gold medal for Canada, and France’s Dany Dann won silver.

The Paris Olympics’ breaking competitions on Friday and Saturday saw 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls — the colloquial term for a breaker, or breakdancer — battle against each other one-on-one as a panel of judges scored the matches based on six different criteria: creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality.

“Athletes will use a combination of power moves — including windmills, the 6-step, and freezes — as they adapt their style and improvise to the beat of the DJ’s tracks in a bid to secure the judges’ votes and take home the first Olympic breaking medals,” the Olympics’ official website explained.

The sport — which was previously a part of the Olympics’ Youth Olympic Games at the event’s 2018 Summer Games, marking the first time any form of dancesport had been an Olympic event — has its roots in the 1970s street culture of New York City.

Sunny (real name Sunny Choi), 35, who was one of two Team USA b-girls this year, previously spoke about how important it was for the U.S. to show its dominance in the sport. “I don’t know how often people are like, ‘You don’t have a choice. Like, you’ve got to bring it home for New York,’ ” she told CBS News.

“[We] try and pay respect to where we’re coming from, where this dance comes from, and want to put some of that shine back onto the community as we go onto this on the big stage,” Choi added in a news conference on Aug. 6, per the outlet.

Montalvo, who is originally from Florida, previously opened up about why he is passionate about breaking in an interview for Team USA, explaining that he first picked up the sport from his cousin when he was just 9 years old.

“It was something just so amazing,” he said. “I just loved the music and the way it made me feel. I’m a super shy kid, so for me it was perfect because you don’t need to talk to anyone. You just need the dance floor and yourself. So it was like a really awesome art form slash sport for me.”

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Team USA’s b-girls failed to take home any medals in Paris. During the round-robin portion of the competition, 21-year-old Logistx (real name Logan Edra) scored three wins and 35-year-old Sunny (real name Sunny Choi) clinched two wins, but neither made the quarterfinals. Japan’s Ami won the women’s gold medal, and Lithuania’s Nicka won the silver in the final.

“I feel like I still shined and I feel like I still represented the dance and had some moments,” Logistx said after her battles, according to CBS News. “It was such a big opportunity, it’s such a big platform, and I’m really happy that we’re here.”

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