He doesn’t just break, he breaks new ground.
Victor Montalvo, or “B-Boy Victor,” already the highest-ranked American male in the sport of breaking, accomplished a new feat last week, becoming the first U.S. athlete to win a medal in Olympic breaking, which debuted at the Paris Games.
The 30-year-old brought bronze back to the United States, the birthplace of the sport, after a series of one-one-one showdowns on Aug. 10 at Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Montalvo told CBS News that he never could have imagined getting to this moment.
“I just did it for fun. This was my passion,” he said. “Now I’m here with a bronze medal.”
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Olympic breaking is judged based on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality. One of the perhaps lesser-known rules of the competition is that b-boys and b-girls can’t repeat moves. Most of the time, they’re improvising.
That wasn’t an issue for Montalvo, who loves to lean into his creative side.
“I love the freedom of expression,” Montalvo said. “You’re basically an artist on the dance floor and you’re creating these masterpieces.”
Even before heading to the Paris Games, Montalvo was a household name in the breaking world. He’s a two-time Red Bull BC One champion, and winner of the 2022 World Games competition, which took place in Birmingham, Alabama.
Originally from Kissimmee, Florida, B-Boy Victor learned the ropes of breaking from his father, Victor Bermudez, and his father’s twin brother, Hector, described as “breaking pioneers.”
The two picked up the craft in the early eighties in Puebla, Mexico. They were inspired by “Beat Street,” Montalvo said, a film about hip-hop culture in 1980s New York.
Montalvo started his own breaking journey at the age of six, and has been busting power moves, flips and signature tricks ever since.
“I fell in love with it,” he told CBS News. “It was just so awesome to watch and do.”
As he got more serious about the sport, Montalvo’s dad knew his son needed a space to practice. He didn’t have enough money at the time, so he borrowed $2000 to build a studio in the family’s backyard.
“He was behind on rent but he did it for me,” Montalvo said. “He just saw how much passion I had for this.”
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During the Paris Games, Canadian “B-Boy Phil Wizard” ultimately took home gold after a 3-0 victory over Danis Civil, “Dany Dann,” of France, who won silver.
The sport did not make it onto the roster of sports for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. But Montalvo isn’t letting that dampen his spirit.
“I’m just so grateful we had our opportunity to showcase our dance in Paris 2024,” he said. “Now there’s people tuning into breaking and actually watching the whole competition.”