Miami breaker heads to Olympics with Team USA

Logan Edra, aka Logistx , is heading to the Olympic stage for the first time — and so is her sport.

Why it matters: The 21-year-old dancer , who lives in Allapattah, will compete with Team USA in breaking when the sport makes its Olympic debut.

• The games begin Friday.

The big picture: Breaking is among the four new sports approved by the International Olympic Committee to make the games more gender balanced and youth focused.

• The other three are port climbing, skateboarding and surfing.

How it works: In the men's and women's breaking competitions , 16 b-boys and b-girls face off in one-on-one battles, integrating moves like windmills, the six-step and freezes.

• The athletes will improvise to the beat of the DJ's tracks to earn scores in three rounds.
• Judges determine the winner based on five categories: vocabulary, technique, execution, originality and musicality.

Axios caught up with Edra to hear what she's looking forward to about the games.

How did you get started?

• "My church had hip-hop dance, and [my] dad tricked me into going. I just fell in love, and I got really good really fast."

Who is the biggest competition to the U.S.?

• "Japan and Netherlands. Japan because they're structured and they always have a plan. Netherlands because "they have a really great understanding of the dance and [has] impacted the whole scene over the years."

What is break culture like in South Florida and Miami?

• "It's a small scene, but everyone has always been so hungry and competitive and high-level. It gets intense. We have a strong lineage of breakers [that come from South Florida]."

Edra hopes the Olympics exposes people to the sport and energizes young people to partake.

Bottom line: "I think people are just going to have so much fun watching us. We're going to steal the audience from other sports, [and] we're just going to be so much more fun to watch."

• "I'm trying to manifest that."

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