B-Girl Nicka Breaking Silver Medallist Interview

Lithuanian B-Girl Nicka, used her all-rounded breaking style to claim the silver medal at breaking’s 2024 Paris Olympic Games debut. She not only walked away with a medal, but also with a smile on her face and happiness in her heart.

We spoke to the young B-Girl about her Olympic journey, experience, and her love for breaking.

Now that it’s all over how does it feel to have won a silver medal for your country?

NICKA: It’s weird that the whole Olympic thing is already in the past because it was a long process of qualifying for the Olympics for two years, and we’ve been waiting for the Olympics for 4 years. I’m grateful for this experience and I enjoyed it so much. I wanted to do my best and win a medal for my country, but first of all I wanted to do my best and enjoy the stage, that was my goal. Also, my goal was to show to the world how wonderful breaking is, because for the first time a huge amount of people saw breaking and I wanted to represent not just myself and my country but also breaking so that people would see it and be inspired. That was my mission and I enjoyed it so much. I guess the silver medal was like a bonus, like the fruits of my mission, hard work and belief.

B-Girl Nicka before the competitions

What was the feeling of competing in the Olympic breaking arena like?

NICKA: The feeling was amazing because I haven’t competed for a long period of time, for two months, so I missed this feeling a lot. I missed the stage, and I was so excited to be back on it again. I was waiting for this moment because I was practising all the time and feeling I want to compete again; I want to smoke some people. So, when I stepped on the stage the music was so dope, the atmosphere was on point, plus the floor, the lights, and everything else, was great. I did my best, enjoyed it, and it was great.

B-Girl Nicka finishing the round

What do you think has allowed you to break out of a small scene and stand out on the international scene?

NICKA: I think it comes from something inside me, naturally. From a young age, when I saw breaking, I fell in love with it, and I wanted to get better every day. When I went to my first breaking class, I was 8 years old, and my first breaking teacher taught me really good foundation and also taught me that you have to have good foundation first and then you can create your own moves. I found a good teacher who taught me for 2 and half years and I got obsessed with breaking. Because I was from a small country not a lot of people believed in me, but this gave me an extra push and inspired me to work even harder. A lot of people said to me that it will be super hard to make a full-time living out of breaking, but from when I was about 11 years old, I set myself a goal that I will be a full-time breaker. I didn’t want to do any other profession, I just wanted to break and be one of the best

B-Girls in the world. I believed in this, I worked so hard for it, and it all came from inside me. Plus, my mum believed in me, so it helped me a lot to always have her behind me. We always travel together so I’m super grateful to have such support. She is doing every role possible; coach, psychologist, stylist, a good cook, everything. She is for real.

How has the experience of being in France been for you?

NICKA: French people support their people a lot. I could feel it because I had Syssy (the French B-Girl) in my group and when I stepped on the stage and saw posters of her face, it was crazy! The atmosphere itself was crazy. I think French people realise that it’s important in breaking to support us, as the energy in the semi-finals and finals was amazing. The audience gave me energy for sure, and when I was dancing, I could feel that they felt the same energy that I was feeling. When I was just having fun, they were giving me back that energy, making the crowd so good.

I think Paris 2024 was one of the best Olympics that ever happened, it was more modern. I also liked the atmosphere, and in the Olympic village everything was on a high-level and super organised.

B-Girl Nicka is doing a hollowback freeze

You always set goals so what’s next for you in your breaking career?

NICKA: I want to get better every day and keep on mastering my craft in breaking. I want to keep on improving, creating new stuff, creating my own style, and evolving. I just want to keep on moving forward, enjoying the process, and staying consistent in this scene because it’s easy to win one time, but it’s hard to always be on top of the game. It’s my goal to be consistent and always show a high- level at competitions, do my best and enjoy.

B-Girl’s Nicka freeze

Are there any last comments you’d like to make for questions you didn’t get asked?

NICKA: I like the way they organised breaking in the Olympics. I think the Olympics needed breaking and it was like a breath of fresh air. It was something new and fresh for all the people, and I think everyone liked it and got inspired. I was super happy to share the stage with all of the B-Girls. All of us made history, all top 16 were high-level, and the whole top 8 bracket was super high-level. I think it may even have been the highest level of B-Girls there’s ever been in history. This whole Olympic journey raised the bar in breaking, and we can see how the level grew just even in the past few months. It’s growing so fast because we are training a lot and are inspired to keep pushing and working hard. I’m grateful that breaking was in Paris 2024, and that we were able to show the world how wonderful breaking is so that they could enjoy it. This was a sporting event, but we could be ourselves, and it felt just like a regular breaking competition, so I’m grateful it was the way it was.

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Published on 18 September 2024