"I was 11 when it was confirmed that the break was included in the program of the Olympic Games. Since then, I had a goal and now I'm here," said 17-year-old Dominika Banevič after arriving in Paris.
She is known all over the world as Bgirl Nicka, or in other words, break girl Nicka. Because in this sport, even in the official protocols, only the pseudonyms chosen by the athletes are written, and not the first and last names.
The youngest member of the Lithuanian Olympic delegation will be the only one from our country's delegation to compete in the Paris Games today.
The break tournament included in the program of the Olympic Games for the first time will take place in the temporary arena on Santarvė Square, where on August 5 was full of passion for 3×3 basketball and where the Lithuanian national team won bronze on the podium.
In the first stage, all 15 athletes are divided into four groups. After one round of competition, two Olympians from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
Bgirl Nicka will compete in Group B together with Oceania champion 36-year-old Bgirl Raygun from Australia, World Championship bronze medalist 16-year-old Bgirl Syssy and American 21-year-old Bgirl Logistx.
17 h Lithuanian time, Bgirl Nicka will start her Olympic journey with a duel with Bgirl Syssy, 17.57 h will compete with Bgirl Logistx, o 18.45 h – with Bgirl Raygun.
The quarter-finals (from 21:21.47) and semi-finals (from 22.29:22.19) will be held later, and the day will be crowned with the final (XNUMX:XNUMX) and the bronze medal match (XNUMX:XNUMX).
Eurosport television channel break expert and journalist Sheyen Gamboa says that the world and European champion from Lithuania, who lives in this dance, is one of the main contenders for a medal.
"As for the girls, I have to say that the French Syssy, who is only 16 years old, has her own style, she finished third at the last world championship, which is impressive. We also have Nick, she's 17, she won the world championship and she dances with ease, incredible style - she could be a pleasant surprise. I think that she could easily get on the podium of the Olympic medalists", said S. Gamboa.
She emphasized that in break competitions it is not important who is the strongest or the fastest: "The most important thing here is the sense of rhythm, musicality and creativity. Of course, technical ability, powerful and clean movements are a big plus."
The athletes' performance will be evaluated by nine judges: Kazuhiro (Japan), Frost (Germany), Moy (JAV), Migaz (Brazil), Jess (Spain), Kowloon (China), Virus (South Korea), Dom-K (France) and Intact (Ukraine).
In break competitions, the evaluation criteria have been defined for a long time and many judges have been trained who are not only theoretically familiar with the rules, but have also gained a lot of experience in applying them.
In Lithuania, only one specialist has obtained an international break referee license. Laurynas Žakevičius, a well-known dance expert, specially trained to evaluate dancers and took international exams.
"During the entire process of training judges, it was emphasized to us that the evaluation system is designed in such a way that it would not be possible for any personal prejudices of judges to penetrate - all of this must be eliminated." The assessment will take place according to five criteria and each of them will have equal weight - it will be decided after the percentage of the final assessment. Therefore, every dancer must pay attention to all the criteria and fill those 20 percent," said L. Žakevičius.
As announced by the Lithuanian Sports Dance Federation, technically, the evaluation of the break is done according to the slider principle. "Each referee receives a computer, where red and blue corners are marked before a specific fight - from these corners the athletes start on the field. The slider cursor is positioned in the middle, assuming that both dancers are equally good. During the fight, according to each of the five criteria, the referee pushes the cursor to the side of one or the other athlete. After that, the program mathematically calculates the evaluations of all the judges", L. Žakevičius revealed the behind-the-scenes of the work of the judges.
