Breaking Barriers: Phil Wizard’s Journey to Olympic Gold and Beyond

Yo, what’s up,
Harper’s Bazaar? This is Phil Wizard,
and I just won the very first Olympic gold in breaking.
A misconception that people have about breaking
is that it died down way back in the 80s and 90s.
It’s actually been bigger and better than ever.
It’s been thriving for a while,
and especially with the Olympics now,
I think it’ll just keep on growing.
My name, Phil Wizard,
comes from my very first dance crew in breaking.
We have crews. Uh,
so my very first crew was called the Wizards Crew.
When people would announce me,
it’d be like, Phil from the Wizards crew.
And then eventually people just started calling me Phil Wizard.
My favorite song to break to right now is now or never
by Kendrick Lamar.
I feel like it just captures where I am in my life right now.
It’s now or never. It’s the time.
I have a lot of signatures and breaking,
and everyone usually does. Um,
often times they’re just moves that you make on your own,
something you’re well known for.
One that I would say is, like,
called the Death Drop, where I just jump back and I drop onto my elbow.
That’s a one that people know me for. Yes.
I am a huge sweet tooth. I feel like everyone knows this by now,
and I’m so happy people know it,
because hopefully
that means I’ll get free sweets from people all the time.
Um, but I feel Like,
my favorite one in Paris is just a classic,
like pain au chocolat or croissant, um,
because they’re so good, you know,
you can’t go wrong with the basics.
Honestly, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions and.
And so much going on since I won,
I feel like I’m still processing. Uh,
but the first thought was, honestly, relief.
I was just like, I did it.
I can’t believe I did it. Um,
and I did it in front of the people that I love
and a lot of people coming to support me.
And so, uh. Yeah,
uh, still processing, though.