Paris –

Breaking made a high-energy Olympic debut accompanied by backflips, DJs, plenty of style and a cameo from U.S. rapper Snoop Dogg at the Paris Games, providing an entertaining first impression for a sport that does not know when another chance will come.

Breaking made it from its New York roots to the highest level of sports on Friday and took center stage at La Concorde in Paris in an event that felt more like a summer block party than the Olympic Games at times.

Japanese B-girl Ami won the first Olympic gold medal in breaking, sweeping to a 3-0 victory in her battle against reigning world champion Nicka of Lithuania in the final round.

“I’m really happy,” said Ami, whose real name is Ami Yuasa. “It’s a really big thing, it’s amazing. It still doesn’t feel real yet. I think I’ll gradually become aware of it.”

Nicka, whose real name is Dominika Banevic, earned the silver medal and Chinese breaker Liu Qingyi, or B-girl 671, earned the bronze.

The B-boys competition is scheduled for Saturday night.

Breaking’s time Olympic spotlight may be brief. The sport is not on the program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, which threatens to blunt the momentum it built in Paris.

“It was disappointing that it was decided that it wasn’t going to be in LA, particularly before we had even had a chance to show it,” said Australian B-girl Raygun, whose real name is Rachael Gunn.”

Ami also expressed her disappointment.

"I would have loved to see breaking in the LA Olympics because it originated in the U.S.,” she said. “But without the Olympics, I believe that B-girls and B-boys will continue breaking, continue the passion of breaking.

"The breaking scene will continue to be wonderful and exciting without the Olympics."

Despite the uncertainty that clouds the sport’s future in the Olympics, the B-girls were happy to introduce it to a new audience.

“I think it means a lot for us, for the breaking community,” Nicka said. “I think the Olympics needed breaking because it’s like a breath of fresh air. Such a (huge) amount of people saw breaking for the first time.”

Seventeen B-girls vied for the gold medal on Friday.

Snoop Dogg helped get things going when he entered the arena to one of his songs and the crowd went wild.

The first Olympic battle was a pre-qualification contest between B-girl India, whose name is India Sardjoe, from the Netherlands, and Manizha Talash, known as B-girl Talash, an Afghan breaker representing the Refugee Olympic Team.

India wasted little time showing off her skills, performing power moves like windmills and stylish freezes to win the round. Talash, the only girl in her breaking group in Kabul before she relocated to Spain, took off a piece of clothing at one point to reveal a blue cape with “Free Afghan Women” written across the back in white letters.

The remaining 16 B-girls were split into four groups and went head-to-head in round-robin battles, with the top eight reaching the quarterfinals.

Both Japanese entrants, Ami and Ayumi, reached the quarterfinal round.

“I’ve realized how far I’ve come, and even though there were hard times, it was a fun journey,” said Ayumi, whose name is Ayumi Fukushima.

Ami won all three of her battles during the round-robin stage and then defeated local favorite Syssy, whose real name is Sya Dembele, 3-0 to advance to the semifinals. She beat India 2-1 in an exciting battle.

Ami and Nicka took turns going to the ground to perform acrobatic moves in the final round, with the crowd feeding into the intensity of the match. When it was over, the MCs led the fans in a tense 10-second countdown before announcing the winner.

“Honestly, I was not too worried about the result,” Ami said when asked about the countdown. “I battled and did what I wanted at the end. If I look back at the video now, I might see some mistakes, but I gave it my all and enjoyed it. So whatever result I got would have been great.”