As the Paris Olympics get underway tomorrow, the first dancing sport — breaking — will make its Olympic debut with a Latino at the helm.
The big picture: Breaking will become the first of its kind sport at the Olympics, which has been adding so-called street sports like skateboarding and climbing in the past few years in a bid to attract younger viewers.
- Breaking was started by Black and Latino youths during the 1970s hip-hop boom in New York City. It mixes speed, acrobatics, and dance for footwork, handstands, and spins.
Zoom in: Mexican American b-boy Victor Montalvo, the current world champion of the sport, is spearheading the U.S. men’s breaking team.
- Montalvo says breaking came almost innately, as his dad practiced the hip-hop dance style in Puebla, Mexico, before migrating to Orlando, Florida, where Montalvo was born.
What they’re saying: His family didn’t support him pursuing a career as a b-boy until they saw that “I was actually making a career out of breaking,” Montalvo tells Telemundo Deportes.
- Now he’s on the cusp of an Olympic medal when the breaking competition starts Aug. 9.
- “I’m for sure gonna make it,” he told Telemundo earlier this month.
Zoom out: Dominican American gymnast Hezly Rivera is another Latina in the spotlight for Team USA.
- The 16-year-old is the youngest member of the U.S. delegation in Paris and is set to make her Olympic debut on Sunday.
- That competition will also feature Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, a favorite especially in the vault event after her Tokyo 2020 gold, and Mexican Alexa Moreno, also a strong vault gymnast (she placed 4th in Tokyo).
Another group set to make a splash is the Mexican women’s artistic swimming team, which starts its competition on Aug. 5.
- The team had to raise funds to compete for the past few years due to budget cuts from the country’s sports federation, but their efforts have paid off as they won the gold medal (beating China) in a world championship in May.
- On the U.S. side, artistic swimming also boasts Latino talent thanks to Daniella Ramírez, who is of Venezuelan ancestry.
- “Seeing my daughter make it … it just leaves me breathless to know she’s about to walk with the best of the best worldwide,” Ramírez’s mom, Carolina Mindiola, recently told Noticias Telemundo.
A few Latin American past champions will be back this year.
- They include Puerto Rican hurdler Jasmine Camacho Quinn (the flag bearer for the island’s team who’s looking to defend her 100m gold medal in Tokyo) and Colombian cycling phenomenon Mariana Pajón, the winningest women’s BMX racer.
- Racewalker Erick Barrondo, who gave Guatemala its first Olympic medal in history in London in 2012, is competing in the 20km race.
- Afro-Ecuadorian Neisi Dajomes, who made history in Tokyo as the first woman from that country to win gold in weightlifting, has been racking up wins in qualifiers – and could perhaps medal this time around with her younger sister Angie.
What we’re watching: The Paralympics start Aug. 28, and among the big Team USA names are Nicky Nieves, volleyball player of Puerto Rican heritage, and Mexican American Oz Sanchez, a six-time handcycling medalist.
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