On Saturday, Victor Montalvo made history at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics when he took home a bronze medal in breaking, more commonly known as breakdancing, which premiered at this year’s quadrennial gathering of the world’s top athletes. For Montalvo, who is known in the breaking scene as B-boy Victor, getting a spot on the podium was the fulfillment of more than a decade of honing his craft, earning the Red Bull BC One World Championship title in 2015 and 2022, and a role on the company’s All Stars roster.

But he told Vanity Fair that it was also important that he got to share breaking with a whole new audience as a part of Team USA. His Olympics journey started with the boat ride down the Seine alongside hundreds of other athletes for the July 26 opening ceremony. “It was one of the best experiences ever. We were right next to LeBron [James] and the whole basketball team just hanging out—LeBron, Steph Curry, [Kevin Durant]. It was raining, but I enjoyed it,” he said “We broke out of the culture side into the sports side and got to meet all these amazing athletes.”

Montalvo was introduced to breakdancing as a young child in Florida through the influence of his father, Victor Bermudez, who helped popularize it in his native Mexico. After nabbing the bronze, Montalvo called home to celebrate. “He was just so happy for me, him and my uncle, because they were the ones that exposed me to this dance and they just never knew that I would take it this far,” the Olympian said. “My dad supported me throughout my whole career. He even made a studio in our backyard. He didn’t have the funds for it, but he found a way to get the funds even though he was behind on rent, and just did it for me and my friends to keep us out of trouble.”

Now that the Games are over, Montalvo said he is recovering following the whirlwind experience. “I’ve been getting so many DMs, and I just haven’t had a chance to write to anyone,” he says with a laugh. “It’s just too overwhelming. I’ll do it later!”

Just days after leaving Paris with his bronze medal, Montalvo spoke with Vanity Fair about how Muhammad Ali inspired his historic performance, why he wore those cargo pants, and what he thought about the Australian breaker Rachel Gunn (a.k.a. Raygun) who went viral after the competition.

Vanity Fair: Do you think viewers got a good sense of what breaking is really like?

Victor Montalvo: They definitely enjoyed it! It’s so cool that a different audience finally gets to see it—an audience outside of breaking. Our sport is so niche, so small, and now we broke out of that. We might’ve not gotten the most positive review—that Australian girl is going viral.

Oh, you’re talking about Raygun! Had you ever heard of her before?

No, I never heard of her before. Even in the comments under my battles, there’s people that are like, ‘Wow, I came here because of Raygun, just to tune into breaking,’ and they’re so invested in it now. They’re like, ‘Wow, this is amazing. Thanks to Raygun, I got to watch breaking and see how amazing it really is.’ Because of that, there’s more people tuning in and watching the events.

The people that were there in the crowd, they enjoyed it a hundred percent. The vibe was nothing that I had ever felt before. I had chills just being there. The crowd was so loud that you couldn’t even hear the music. They were going crazy for everyone. It was an amazing experience.

Even the excitement around Raygun made me realize just how much personality can go into breaking, good or bad. With you, or gold medalist Phil Wizard, or silver medalist Dany Dann—you’re all so good but in very different ways, based on your different styles. Why is originality so important?

It’s kind of like Street Fighter. People were super invested in every dancer, and people got to pick their favorite dancer because of the way they move and the way they look. There’s not one person that’s the best all the time, but that’s what makes it exciting. It’s so spontaneous, and there are times where you even excite yourself. When I’m dancing, I do things in the moment that might never happen ever again, which makes it even more amazing.

Did you have any moments like that in Paris at all?

Yeah! I felt like I was reinventing my whole style, and I basically went on that stage with new and improved signatures. I haven’t done that in a very long time. For me, as a breaker, it’s really tough because everyone knows what I’m going to do, and everyone knows my moves. So you always gotta keep on reinventing yourself and coming up with new styles [and] concepts. I did that on the dance floor this weekend, and I was so proud of myself. I was able to keep on going even though I’ve been in the scene for a very long time.

When did you first hear that they were going to include breaking in the 2024 Olympics? Was it hard to qualify for the team even though you’ve been winning championships for almost a decade?

During COVID. For me, it was a shock. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the Olympics except for Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. I was like, Alright, that’s cool, we can win a medal, but I didn’t know how monumental the Olympics were. In the beginning, qualifying was really confusing. We didn’t know how to get into the Olympics, and we didn’t understand the system.

I was a multiple-time champion, and I was expecting myself to automatically be on the team, but there’s a process. You have to go through the regionals, then to nationals to then get onto Team USA for breaking. It was really stressful, to be honest. I had to reinvent myself and do it all over again. I’ve been competing for the past 15 years, and just to do that process all over again was a lot for me. But I got through.

So you got to France before the Games started and had a few weeks to practice. What was that like?

We stayed an hour away from Paris, where Team USA had a High Performance Center. We were there for about two weeks training, preparing, simulating the battles, and just trying to keep ourselves positive mentally and motivated. We were simulating the round robin, which was six rounds, three opponents. Each round was two battles versus each opponent.

I had sets in mind that I was going to do for each and every opponent. I was thinking, like, Okay, I can use this move against that opponent—I was attacking their weaknesses. It’s all about strategizing, but also being able to adapt, bringing in the fun aspect of it and the creative aspect of it. Having my sets ready to go, but also being prepared to improvise right in the moment, because it is a dance, and it is all about the music.

Some of the breaking teams had uniforms, but Team USA got to pick their own outfits. What went into your choice of very cool cargo pants?

Because we’re more of an art form, clothing is a really important part of breaking. Everyone has a different sense of style, which is important. You look good, you feel good, you dance good. That’s what I try to do—bring some sense of style and fashion into breaking, because for me, it’s important, the way I dress.

So when you were getting ready for the big day, how did you get in the right headspace?

The day of the competition, I was watching this documentary called When We Were Kings. They document the fight that Muhammad Ali had versus George Foreman—this was the Rumble in the Jungle. Everyone thought Muhammad Ali was going to get destroyed. George Foreman was younger, stronger, faster. And Muhammad Ali paid no mind to any of them. He’s like, ‘I got this. I’m the greatest.’ He had mental toughness throughout that whole fight, which motivated me and inspired me.

After you made it out of the round robin, which you got to prepare for, how did you deal with those final matches? What was going through your head?

I had a lot of relief once I made it into the top eight, because my bracket was actually one of the hardest. So the three dudes I had in the round robin, I had Lithe-Ing from China, and Hiro10 and Shigekix from Japan. All three are little terminators—they just keep on going. I don’t have half the moves they have, but I do have the experience, and I have the originality and the feeling—the essence of breaking.

But I also had a lot of doubts. I had a lot of pressure on me, and I was just like, Man, am I still capable of doing it? So I just kept on thinking positive. I’m like, You’ve done it before, this is just another event. That’s your dance floor. Take your time, enjoy it. It’s about trying to do your best every round, giving it your all. I don’t care if you pass out. In the semis, I lost against Dany Dann, which was pretty difficult because he had the hometown advantage. The crowd was going crazy for every little [move] he was doing.

In that battle, I thought your originality was just off the charts compared to him, but I do feel like he was drawing off that hometown energy. Why do you think that match turned out the way it did?

Every judge has a different idea, and every battle has a different outcome because of the judges. But it was an amazing battle. And I remember just being on stage and hearing “U-S-A! U-S-A!” Everybody started chanting “USA,” and then out of nowhere, France comes in. People are just screaming “France!”

After you lost that round, how did you find the energy to come back and keep competing? Do you just say, Okay, that was then, and this is a different round?

Yeah, I was just in shock because I’m so used to winning, and it was a humbling experience. But that’s what happens in breaking. It’s always someone else’s turn, and you’re not always going to win. I’m like, Alright, at least I can get a bronze. Let’s try to get the bronze. I was bummed out about it, though. I didn’t have as much energy as I did for the semifinals. But, I don’t know, somehow I just got a second breather!

I could see it while I was watching. You really picked it up in the end, and it was amazing.

I was like, Man, come on, you can do it. Fight for bronze, but just have fun. Enjoy it. Bring that breaking essence back. You got these three minutes of your life, and that’s all you need. And I brought it back home!

What are you looking forward to next?

I have one more one-on-one competition in two weeks. So I’m staying prepared for that, keeping healthy. After that, I just want to relax, take time off, focus more on team battles. Because these individual battles are really tough and time consuming and mentally draining. So it’s like time to step away for a bit, focus more on team battles, and enjoy the dance.

I was thinking about moving to Thailand for a bit and just learning Muay Thai. I’ll come back and then—I don’t know! Maybe throw an event? I’ll throw an event for the community.