By: Ellie Zhang 1

When 35-year-old Sunny Choi mentions that she is going to the Paris Olympics to dance–not just any dance, but break dancing–everybody gives her a questionable look. Some even text her discouraging things. Sunny doesn’t laugh at her haters, but rather laughs with them.
It can be hard to believe that breakdancing is an Olympic Sport, but Sunny Choi believes that it is, and that’s all that matters to her. Breakdancing easily became her passion with its physical challenges and opportunities for expression.

“I just have to hope that you see it one day,” Sunny tells TIME.

During breakdancing, Sunny was also a worker at Estée Lauder. She was struggling with her emotions as she had depression. Because of this, she had to quit her job and found a therapist to help her through this problem.
“Seeking a therapist wasn’t seen as a normal thing,” Sunny said on NBC News.

At the event in Paris , there were a total of 32 contestants: half boys and half girls.
There were a lot of skilled breakdancers, but Sunny Choi was one of a kind.
“She’s got the high-scale aerial power moves,” Says Mary Fogarty, an associate dance professor on Timeforkids.com.

Sunny achieved her first golden medal in November of 2023, beating Luma, a representative for Columbia 3-0.

Sunny Choi has gotten better and better, her depression slowly going away. She started to follow her therapist’s advice to pursue her passion. The two worked together to help stabilize her spirit. Sunny admitted that she is able to cry now, as she never really did in her state of depression. She has learned to open up her feelings even more.
“Rather than showing this single face,” she said, “I have more range of emotion now that I can work with.”
Sunny hopes that she can be remembered for spreading her passion and encouraging others with her mental health healing story and successes.

Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/sunny-choi-olympic-breaking-team-usa-mental-health-rcna150575
https://www.thecut.com/article/sunny-choi-breakdancing-2024-olympics-interview.html
https://time.com/6836144/sunny-choi-olympics-breaking-2024/