South African breakdancer Courtnae Paul off to the Olympic Qualifiers

Paul is one of four African female breakers set to compete at the OQS, where the top 40 athletes in the world will compete for 10 spots at the 2024 Paris Games. 

Break dancing was first introduced at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires back in 2018 and has since been launched as a new sport at this year’s Games, along with Surfing, Skateboarding, and Sport Climbing. 

Paul recently won the Red Bull BC One Cypher South Africa – one of the events she was using to assess her readiness for the qualifiers. 

Speaking to SABC Sport, Paul says she's been using this last week to rest and recover ahead of the all-important qualifiers in China.

“Preparations have been going really well. I’ve tried to lock myself down over the last week. I would have loved to do it sooner and for longer, but that's not my reality,” Paul said.

“Right now, I'm trying to have a shorter practice and rehearsal time to give myself enough time to recover and rest, because I think the bulk of the work is done, so all I can do is try to recover well. 

“When I leave next week, I just hope that the training shows up when I get on the floor. There's nothing more I can do at this point.”

The two-part Olympic Qualifying Series, which will start in Shanghai from 16-19 May, followed by the second leg in Budapest in June, will determine which athletes qualify for Paris 2024 in breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding, and sport climbing.

The Durban-born dancer shares how she's keeping herself mentally strong ahead of what is set to be a taxing qualifying series.

“The mental game is probably the hardest part for me. My mind is constantly running at 10 speeds an hour, and when you consider what a day typically looks like, the amount of stimuli that one can come into contact with,” she noted. 

“Whether it's just what you're seeing on TV, social media or something goes wrong at training. So, I'm trying to stay as far removed from the world right now as I can, so I can just focus on what I need to do.”

READ: SA breakdancer Courtnae Paul gearing up for Olympic Qualifiers