Veteran B-boy Hongten was knocked out of the group stage at the inaugural Olympic breaking competition in Paris on Saturday.
Hongten, whose legal name is Kim Hong-yul, finished third in Group C of the B-boys competition at La Concorde 1 in the French capital. After round-robin battles, only the top two from each of the four groups advanced to the quarterfinals.
Hongten opened with a 2-0 (7-2, 6-3) loss to Lee of the Netherlands. He split two rounds against Lagaet of France. He needed to win both rounds against Jeffro of the United States but ended up just taking one round.
Jeffro won the group by winning five rounds, while Lee was second after winning four rounds.
For each round, a panel of nine judges evaluated performances on five criteria: vocabulary, technique, execution, originality and musicality.
Vocabulary refers to moves performed by B-boys on the floor. Technique looks at athleticism and body control. For execution, judges look at sharpness of moves.
B-boys were also rewarded for their origin
ality. For musicality, judges considered how well the performers understood the rhythm of breaking music, among other things.
In his three matches, Hongten scored well in vocabulary and originality, but not always so in execution and musicality.
Hongten, 39, is one of the most accomplished South Korean B-boys. He won silver at last year’s Asian Games.
Breaking made its Olympic debut here but will not be contested at the next Olympics in 2028.
Source: Yonhap News Agency