Breaking’s rising star Dominika Banevič knows all too well about believing in yourself and success from a young age.
She was exposed to the newest Olympic sport while watching cartoons online, and now the Lithuanian prepares for her debut at the Paris Games as the defending world champion after beating more than 90 other B-girls in Belgium in 2023.
Banevič – who goes by the competitive name of B-Girl Nicka – is one of the frontrunners to stand atop the podium waving a gold medal – all before she turns 18.
“It’s crazy because, two years ago, I wouldn’t believe that I will be where I’m at now,” Banevič told CNN Sport back in February.
“But I knew that it was possible – I wasn’t overthinking too much, I was just practicing hard because I knew exactly what I needed to do to achieve my goal.”
The ambitious 17-year-old is not your usual teenager – she exudes confidence and is driven, with her achievements on the dancefloor inspiring an entire nation.
Lithuania has not been blessed with Olympic success in the past – it has won only six gold medals since the country broke away from the Soviet Union in 1990, and the last time a Lithuanian stood on top of the podium was at the London 2012 Games, when Laura Asadauskaitė claimed victory in modern pentathlon.
The weight of national expectation is on Banevič’s shoulders, as the teenager is considered to be one of Lithuania’s big hopes of bringing home a gold; a remarkable achievement for a nation of just over three million people. She wants to repay the faith Lithuanians have shown in her and is always “proud” to represent the country on a global stage.
“It’s such a big honor to hear the anthem, see the flag rising when you win gold or any other medal – you can’t describe this feeling of how proud you are to represent your country,” she said.
“A lot of people say that Lithuania is a small country, so you can’t achieve a lot, but what I believe is that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can always achieve anything because everything is possible.”
From watching cartoons to breaking’s elite
Breaking has always been the dream for Banevič, who says that she was serious about her aspirations from the get-go.
She first discovered the sport when she was young and came across a breaking video while watching cartoons on YouTube. Head spins and “crazy moves” impressed the then five-year-old Banevič so much that she started to try and replicate the moves she had watched in her living room.
“I was amazed and fascinated,” she recalled. “I couldn’t go to any classes yet because I was too young, and my mom said it was too early.
“I was trying to dance to anything I could at that moment, and I said to my mom, ‘Record what I’m doing, record my dance and post it on YouTube,’ because I was watching a lot of YouTube. For me, it was like if you are on YouTube, then you are cool.”
Despite her mother Alina’s initial skepticism, Banevič began attending breaking classes at eight years old. She caught the breaking bug and soon found that two weekly sessions were not enough.
“I went [to the training sessions] to learn breaking, to improve and to get better every day,” Banevič said. “Already after a couple of sessions, my mom realized that I found myself – I was already obsessed.”
Her first coach, Jegenij Kirjanov, taught her the foundations of the sport and allowed her to develop her distinctive style. Although their partnership only lasted three years due to personal reasons in her coach’s life, Banevič looks at Kirjanov as an idol.
She now describes herself as an “all-rounder” with a “traditional approach to breaking.”
“More from the 90s,” she told CNN about her style of performing. “It’s important to me to feel connected to the music.”
Starting out in two-on-two breaking competitions in her hometown of Vilnius, Banevič transitioned to solo competition and became the first B-girl to win the national championship in 2020.
Despite being a four-time Lithuanian breaking champion, it was further afield where Banevič made her name.
Bumpy road to Paris
Clinching a spot at the Olympics was not easy for the precocious teenager.
The 2023 European Games in Krakow were the first chance to qualify for Paris, but the Lithuanian lost by one point in the semifinals to Ukraine’s Anna Ponomarenko. Falling just short on her first attempt made Banevič feel “angry at everybody and herself,” but the lessons learned in defeat were invaluable.
“I realized that I have to take this lesson and learn to not just forget and put aside because it [failure] can repeat itself,” she said of that moment.
She made a promise to herself to win the world championships in September as qualification became her obsession.
“I was preparing a lot, but what really helped me was that I was more prepared mentally – I knew 100 percent that I was ready,” Banevič said. “I believed that I could win because that spot at the Olympics was all that really mattered to me.”
Banevič snatched her second chance with aplomb, defeating her competition to be crowned the new world champion. The moment she heard her name announced as the winner was the ultimate satisfaction after a “crazy journey.”
“I started crying because I think it was the best moment of my life,” she said.
“I guess when I was 10, I exactly knew that I want to become one of the best in the world. I was watching a lot of competitions and was visualizing that, one day, I will win, and it was my dream.”
Lithuania’s Olympic hope
Pierre de Coubertin, one of the founders of the modern Olympics, once said: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.” Banevič, however, has more ambitious plans for her Olympic debut.
She is currently third in women’s World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) rankings in breaking and her hugely successful 2023 makes the Lithuanian one of the frontrunners to become the first B-girl to win gold at the Olympics.
“My goal is to write history,” Banevič told CNN Sport. “My goal is to win an Olympic medal and represent my country at the highest level.”
Seeing such young athletes at the top of their sport is a rare – albeit increasingly common – sight, Banevič says that there is no set age for when breakdancers should hit the peak of their careers.
“Age doesn’t matter in breaking,” she said. “What really matters is your lifestyle and what you are doing on a daily basis.”
Despite the historical precedent for breaking at the Paris Games, it could be a one-off: breaking is not listed in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic program. The WDSF expressed “profound disappointment” with the decision and is “working hard to ensure” that breaking will included four years later at the Brisbane Summer Games in 2032.
For now, though, Banevič’s priority is her own career, whether that extends to the Olympics or not.
“Of course, I will keep practicing,” she said. “What really matters to me is to stay at the top of the game in breaking for many years.”
The 17-year-old says she is fully focused on the task in hand and has dedicated her life to preparation and the push for Olympic glory.
She has taken a gap year from school to train for six hours a day, as well as working on her strength and conditioning with her physio. Though it sounds exhausting, Banevič says she has enjoyed every minute of her grueling preparation.
“I’m doing my thing,” she explains. “I always say when you do what you love, it shouldn’t matter how tired or exhausted your body feels – your soul is happy.”
