Ami Yuasa ( 湯浅亜実, Yuasa Ami, born December 11, 1998), also known mononymously as Ami, is a Japanese

breakdancer Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly of ...

and Olympic gold medalist. She is the winner of the 2018 and 2023

Red Bull BC One The Red Bull BC One is an annual international breakdancing (B-Boy) competition, established in 2004. The competition is organised by the beverage company Red Bull. Its first event was held in Biel, Switzerland in 2004. The competition's main ev ...

world championship and the WDSF World Breaking Champions 2019 and 2022. She is a member of the Good Foot Crew.

Early life and education

Yuasa was born in Kawaguchi,

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

. She graduated from Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi High School and

Komazawa University , abbreviated as 駒大 ''Komadai'', is one of the oldest universities in Japan. Its history starts in 1592, when a seminary was established to be a center of learning for the young Bhikkhu#Monks in Japan, monks of the Sōtō, Sōtō sect, one of ...

, Faculty of Letters, in the Department of English and American Literature.

Career

Yuasa started learning hip hop in the first grade of elementary school due to the influence of her sister Ayu, who is four years older than her, and started breaking in the fifth grade. In April 2018, Yuasa won the B-Girl World Final of

held in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. In 2019, she won the inaugural WDSF World Breaking Championship held in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, China. In September 2019, Yuasa won the 1st World Urban Championship held in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary. In November 2020, she won the 2nd All Japan Breaking Championship in the Open B-Girl division. In 2021, Yuasa is the runner up in the 3rd WDSF World Breaking Championship held in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. Although she was unable to win for the second time in a row, she and her sister Ayu, who came in third, made it to the podium together. Yuasa participated at the

2022 World Games The 2022 World Games, commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines ...

in the

dancesport Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair. Dancesport events are sanctioned and regulated by dancesport organizat ...

competition where she won the gold medal in the B-Girls event. In October 2022, she won the 4th WDSF World Breaking Championships held in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea for the second time, following her victory in 2019. Yuasa represented Japan in Breaking in the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, winning the gold medal. Dominika Banevič of Lithuania took the silver medal.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuasa, Ami 1998 births Living people Japanese breakdancers Japanese female dancers Olympic breakdancers for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in breakdancing Breakdancers at the 2024 Summer Olympics World Games gold medalists for Japan World Games medalists in dancesport Medalists at the 2022 World Games Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in dancesport Dancers at the 2022 Asian Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Komazawa University alumni People from Kawaguchi, Saitama Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture 21st-century Japanese sportswomen