UPDATE: Kissimmee's Victor Montalvo won the bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics in breaking in the sport's debut in the games.
Montalvo, 30, a Gateway High School alum, defeated Shigeyuki "Shigekix" Nakarai in the bronze medal "battle", winning on the judges' cards in all three rounds.
In the gold medal battle, Canada's Philip "Phil Wizard" Kim outlasted Danis "Dany Dan" Civil from host France to win the first-ever breaking gold medal.
When you tune in to the Summer Olympics over the next couple weeks, you’ll have the chance to watch one of Kissimmee’s own.
Victor Montalvo, 30, became the first American to qualify for the Olympics in breakdancing, or “breaking”. The Paris Games are the first time the discipline is featured in the Olympics.
Montalvo, a “B-Boy” who goes just by “Victor” in the world’s breaking circles, will compete on Aug. 10 against fellow American Jeffrey “Jeffro” Louis and 14 other breakers for the gold medal. A lineup of 16 female breakers, including Americans Sunny Choi and Logan Elanna “Logistx” Edra.
“I’m super excited, I leave on Saturday,” said Montalvo, a 2012 grad of Gateway High School, who qualified for his spot at the 2023 World Breaking Championships. “I’ve just been training and getting mentally and physically prepared to compete.”
Unlike most other sports, where the U.S. athletes among the top finishers at an Olympic trials event qualify, breaking qualification was on a regional or worldwide basis. The competition, which will air live on the Peacock streaming service on Saturday, Aug. 10, should be wide open, he said.
“It’s gonna be awesome for the sport that Peacock streams it live,” Montalvo said.
Breaking takes its roots from street dance developed in New York City, and incorporates power dance moves, footwork and “freezes” (stopping in a balance-dependent position) and is set to hip-hop, funk and soul music that contains drum breaks.
Originally a track athlete, running distance races and the long jump, Montalvo said he dove headfirst into breaking thanks to his father and twin brother Victor and Hector Bermudez. They helped launch and grow the sport in their native Mexico in the 1980s. Victor took the torch passed to him and began competing nationally at age 14, and internationally at 17. He is a two-time (2015 and 2022 as profiled by the News-Gazette) Red Bull BC One (an international competition) champion.
In 2020, the International Olympic Committee approved a World DanceSport Federation (breaking’s governing body) proposal for inclusion.
“When I found out breaking was going into the Olympics, I realized it was a great time to be a breaker,” Montalvo said. “Our prime is between 25 and 32 years old, so it’s a blessing to be peaking when breaking joins the Olympics.”
He qualified at the 2023 World Championships in Belgium, where he won the gold medal, so he was able to attend the Olympic Qualifier Series, a sort of “last chance qualifier to the field” in Shanghai, China and Budapest, Hungary as a spectator and supporter of other B-boys and B-girls.
“It felt good to have my spot locked in, it was a weight off my chest,” Montalvo said. “I had been training real hard, and I had a lot of doubt going into (the World Championship).”
The Olympic competition will feature 22 rounds of 30 to 40 seconds, more than the usual competitions, and Montalvo said he’s been preparing for that.
“I’m training now more like an athlete and simulating the battles I’m expecting,” he said. “It’s going to be more intense.”
He said the self-expression he puts into his breaking techniques are what he loves most about the craft.
“I can bring my own personality into a dance,” Montalvo said. “I also like to play role playing games, where it’s about building a character. I take that and flow and dance into the music. I am able to represent the culture.”
And Montalvo said he realizes that, with a worldwide stage at the Olympics, he and his fellow competitors are carrying an important flag for breaking.
“We realize it’s a niche sport, but it’s big around the world,” he said. “Many people didn’t know it’s in the Olympics. But we know we’re making history.”
