Víctor Montalvo’s arrival at the Olympic Games must be one of the most unlikely: it is the story of a son of Mexican immigrants practicing a dance that for the first time – and perhaps the only time – is included as an Olympic sport in Paris 2024.
This sport is called breaking, the official or “professional” name given to breakdancing. This is one of the disciplines promoted a few years ago by the Olympic movement, along with skateboarding and surfing, in an attempt to rejuvenate the Games and reach a younger audience.
Victor Montalvo is considered the world’s top breaking star. The son of Mexican parents originally from Puebla and Ciudad Juarez, who emigrated to the United States is the world champion of breaking, and in Paris, where the men’s competition will be this Saturday (the women’s on Friday), the Orlando native will seek the pinnacle of his award-winning career on the dance floor.
“It feels unreal to me. I say to myself, ‘Wow, this is really happening. This moment is happening.’ And you know what? I feel great.” “I don’t feel pressure, I have the right mentality. I’m ready,” Montalvo, 30, told La Opinión in a recent interview..
Montalvo’s beginnings in breaking are thanks to his father and uncle. Victor and Hector Bermudez, twins, were breakdancing in Puebla, Mexico. They taught Victor and his brothers to dance when they were still children. He was only 6 years old when he started.
Victor Montalvo, who grew up in Kissimmee, Florida, says he started taking breaking more seriously at the age of 9 or 10. “I fell in love with it,” he says.
“I started to get better and better and then we started going out of state and out of the country. It has been a long journey, but a good one,” he says about his path in the discipline that originated in the streets of the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s.
For Victor Montalvo, the “soul” is what defines breaking
Breaking is held in Paris in the format of men versus men and women versus women in the form of individual duels starting with a round-robin round, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. Competitors, B-boys and B-girls, are rated by judges on creativity, technique, variety, musicality and execution.There are 16 participants per branch in the Games.
“Judging is based on the fundamentals, the strength of your form, your creativity, your originality, your musicality, which is the most important thing. And you can’t repeat yourself, you always have to do something different, if you repeat a routine or movement in another round you lose a point,” explains Montalvo.
“Breaking is very dynamic, it’s very deep, it has a vibe,” says Montalvo, who won the 2023 world championships to qualify directly for Paris 2024 and become the first U.S. Olympic breaker.
“It’s about peace, it’s about having fun, it’s about community, togetherness and creating a fun atmosphere. That’s what I like, you can have your own character.”your own person, you can reinvent your imagination and your expression.” In addition to this, Victor uses the word “soul” to refer to what is behind breaking.
He adds that in breaking, you can do whatever you want on the track, always following the music in turn, where the athlete must coordinate his movements with the rhythm of the music. When asked if he could perform to mariachi music, he answers: “Mariachi? Maybe you can.”
If anyone can do it, it’s Victor. He created his own “trademark” move years ago known as “Super Montalvo,” in which he does a 360-degree spin on the palm of his hand while his knees remain bent. But Montalvo is quick to point out that his “Backflip flare” is now more well-known, which, as its name suggests, includes a backflip. landing on his hands and from that position he launches himself to the ground to grab the torso with a “flare”.
It’s better to see it than to read it:
His uncles made sure that Montalvo did not forget his Mexican blood.
A few months ago, Victor Montalvo realized that his long career of almost 20 years in breaking with all his achievements, including sponsorship from Red Bull, have made him quite a well-known individual.
“It’s been crazy. Literally. I was driving in LA, I stopped at a red light and someone said to me: ‘I“Are you Victor?” says Montalvo, who is married to a woman from Ukraine.Kateryna, also a breaker.
“And I was like, ‘Wow, this has never happened to me before. ’ I’m just getting a lot of support from people outside of the breaking world, I’m getting a lot of exposure outside of the breaking world, and I’m really happy because I’m showing my sport to people who haven’t seen it… I’m really proud of that,” says Montalvo, who stays in shape by practicing calisthenics, running, and cycling, as well as some Muay Thai and boxing.
In a chat for the United States Olympic delegation’s social media, Montalvo said what it means to him to be a Latino athlete in the Olympics.
“I’m representing my roots,” Montalvo said. “My uncles always told me to be proud of who I am and where I come from. They always reminded me: ‘Hey, you’re Mexican, you’re an Aztec warrior, never forget that.’ So I’m proud of my roots, but I’m also proud of where I was born, the United States. It’s great to represent both.”.
In addition to his blood and his country, Victor Montalvo feels that at the Olympic Games he represents breaking. Listening to him speak, you feel like The Kissimmee man carries an extra responsibility of helping to spread his sport on the biggest stage. To do so, he had to “reinvent himself,” he told La Opinión before traveling to Paris.
“I’m updating all my movements, making them more dynamic, basically doing my thing, enjoying the dance, like understanding again why I’m doing it, as if it’s not for the competition, but for me, because it’s something I love.”
And if he wins the coveted Olympic gold, Victor promises to throw the biggest party ever at his home in Florida.
“We are going to have the best food, mariachi music, and we are going to be dancing salsa, merengue, bachata and everything else.”
Dancing, something that Víctor Montalvo has in his blood.
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