Paris 2024 | A 40-year-old on the verge of realizing her Olympic breakdancing dream

(Shanghai) “Not too old!” »: Ayumi Fukushima, 40 years old and specialist in breakdancing, a new Olympic discipline, is twice the age of some of her competitors. But this Japanese teacher should, barring an accident, be on the trip to Paris.

Victorious in a qualifying tournament last weekend in Shanghai, she will only need a few additional points during a final competition organized in Budapest in order to secure her ticket for the Summer Olympics.

Breakdancing or “breaking”, as it is officially called, will be included for the first time in the program of the Olympic Games, organized this year in the French capital.

This style of dance, originating from hip-hop culture, has an important acrobatic dimension with numerous floor figures that are particularly demanding in terms of flexibility and physical fitness.

“I’m old, but I don’t feel too old!” “, Ayumi Fukushima told AFP.

The Japanese woman has long been a figure among “B-girls” (women specialists in breakdancing) in a traditionally masculine environment.

In 2017, she became the first woman to participate in Red Bull BC One, a benchmark international competition, at a time when the women’s category did not exist.

Japan in force

She has since won the 2021 World Breakdance Championships in Paris, where the competition was then divided into two categories, men and women.

Ayumi Fukushima also won bronze at the 2023 Asian Games, hosted in China in Hangzhou.

The Japanese started breakdancing at the age of just 21.

“For my generation, it was normal to start at university. But today, most people start when they are children,” she says.

Ayumi Fukushima never imagined one day being able to compete in the Olympic Games. Given his age, the Paris Games will probably be his first and last.

“It’s something new for us, for the Olympics as well, so I’m happy to be part of this whole process,” she says about the presence of breakdancing.

Japan has long been a bastion of the discipline. The Asian country once again placed three women and one man on the podiums at the Shanghai tournament on Sunday.

“Really pleasure”

For years, Ayumi Fukushima combined her work as a kindergarten teacher and training with a dance team based in Kyoto.

The sportswoman has, however, significantly reduced her professional activity in recent months, because she now wants to concentrate “more on dancing”.

But she still finds time to teach breakdancing lessons to children, with the hope of helping the sport reach new heights in the future.

“Everywhere I go, I see young people interested in breakdancing […] It’s really nice,” she explains.

On the sidelines of the Shanghai qualifying tournament, dozens of children practiced breakdancing moves during a public workshop intended to popularize the sport.

Could the inclusion of breakdancing in the Olympic Games endanger the free and rebellious spirit of the discipline, as some fans worry?

Ayumi Fukushima doesn’t think so.

“We have a sport and a culture […] I think the two will develop together,” she predicts.