NIKE SPONSORS BBOY KID KARAM AHEAD OF 2024 PARIS GAMES
The quest to secure the world’s best athletes in Breaking is on!
For over 45+ years, Bboys were labeled only as dancers and excluded from generating sponsorship income as athletes. Today, brand sponsors are recognizing Bboys as highly skilled athletes. With Breaking now an Olympic sport set to debut at the Paris 2024 Games, Nike begins its quest to sponsor the world's best Bboys and signs Bboy Kid Karam. On October 19, 2021, Karam Singh became an official “Nike sponsored athlete” and proclaimed his status as the “first UK Bboy to become an athlete.”
Singh was born in Derby, United Kingdom and at the age of 23 is considered one of the world’s top-ranking athletes in competitive Breaking winning the 2019 UK Bboy Championships and 2020 Red Bull BC One Cypher UK.
Singh has toured the globe, appeared in commercials for Nike and Apple, modelled for Fred Perry, and performed with 'Britain's Got Talent' winners Diversity.” Karam’s dream is to represent his country at the Olympics. He trains over four hours a day when he is not competing incorporating running, swimming and athletic workouts into his Breaking sessions.
“When people call it breakdancing it gives it that stereotype of busking in the streets or dancing in the nightclubs,” says Singh gently, over Zoom. “It’s called breaking because it’s gone into the sports industry.”
— Karam Singh, Pro Bboy
Like other pro Bboys, Singh uses his own money to travel around the world to compete professionally. He works part-time in a call centre and is studying for a degree. Singh believes the Olympics will establish credibility to the sport of Breaking and provide Bboys sponsorship opportunities. With Nike sponsoring Singh, expect more Brands to follow this trend.
