PARIS — India Sardjoe is 18, with a mouth full of braces, and is on the hunt.
“I really like exchanging pins in the Olympic village,” she said Friday, after taking part in the inaugural Olympic breaking competition at La Concorde. Known in the breaking game as B-Girl India, the 2022 world champion had been one of the favorites coming into the competition but finished just off the medal stand, losing the bronze medal match to China’s B-Girl 671, aka, Liu Qingyi.
In the end, Japan’s B-Girl Ami, aka Ami Yuasa, defeated Lithuania’s B-Girl Nicka (Dominika Banevič) for the gold medal.
“I just, I didn’t nearly focus on medals, actually,” Ami said. “For the final, I just wanted to show my … everything. And I think I did that, yeah.”
A large, enthusiastic and occasionally curious crowd, which featured Snoop Dogg in the afternoon session and IOC president Thomas Bach in the evening one, helped break in breaking, a new sport here but which will not be part of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. There was intrigue in the afternoon when Afghanistan’s Manizha Talash, in her qualifying match against India, unveiled a cape under her jumper that read “Free Afghan Women.” Manash, who was a member of the Refugee Olympic Team, a 37-member contingent of displaced…
