Philip Kim grew up in Vancouver, the child of Korean immigrants who wanted him to pursue a post-secondary education. He surprised them instead when he fell in love with breakdancing—or “breaking” as the sport is officially called—and devoted his teenage years to developing his skills. He even created his own crew called the Wizards; his b-boy name is Phil Wizard. At 18, he won a major competition in L.A. Now he’s on Red Bull’s all-star team and has attracted sponsors like Lululemon and Toyota.
This summer, breaking will be part of the Olympics for the first time, and Kim will be competing for Canada. I’ll be keeping an eye out for a move he recently developed: it’s inspired by swimmers and makes him look like he’s doing front strokes on the floor.
In the August issue of Maclean’s, we feature Kim along with a few other Canadian athletes who are pioneers in non-traditional sports like surfing and skateboarding. Says Kim: “I hope breaking’s place in the Olympics will encourage a new generation to fall in love with the sport, just like I did.”
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
