Looking for a Phil Good moment

Vancouver b-boy Kim heads to the Paris Games as a breaking medal favourite

- ROSIE DIMANNO

Philip Kim has to think on his feet — and his head and his elbows and his knees. Every single moving body part, actually.

Which has led to a host of injuries: a couple of concussions, each finger sprained along with shoulders, ankles and wrists, and countless hyperextensions.

He has never actually broken anything, though. Which is rather a marvel for one of the world’s top b-boys — breakdancers. In fact, he is ranked No. 1 going into the Paris Games, where the sport will make its jiggy Olympic debut, and a beatdown prospect for Canada gold.

Kim is known more familiarly in the breaking universe as Phil Wizard, a handle invested upon him by his first dance crew and one he wouldn’t have chosen. “I would have gone for something like Phil Good because that sounds happygo-lucky. I’m definitely established now as Wizard and it’s too late to change.’’

Raised and still residing in Vancouver, Kim fell in thrall to breaking, both as a sport and a culture, when he watched dancers busking, unpacking all these startling, gravity-defying moves. He practised by himself, then joined spontaneous break gatherings, even honed his routines in the school hallway on bathroom passes.

His Korean immigrant parents were initially bewildered but they’ve become super fans. They certainly needn’t be concerned about a financial future for their son. Kim, a carded athlete by Sports Canada, has attracted a slew of bigbuck sponsors, including Lululemon and Red Bull, which has backed breaking for two decades.