– The first thing I thought was that now I’m going to put everything away and invest 100 per cent in this. news meets Daniel Grindeland (30) at Olympiatoppen. He has been breakdancing since he was eleven years old. The choice to do the dance form from the USA came after a talent show at school. – It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and I started breaking as soon as I saw it. He says that he tried all the sports he could try, but none gave him the incentive to continue. With breakdancing, the story was different. – After day one, I knew that breakdancing was what I was going to do. TOP 10: Grindeland is ranked number 24 on the qualification list for the Olympics. He must be in the top 10 in June to be able to participate in the Olympics. Photo: Celina Myklebust Magnussen / news In 2020, the news he was waiting for came. During the 2024 Olympics, breakdancing will be a separate exercise for the first time in Olympic history. Daniel Grindeland is a guest on Lindmo, which is broadcast on NRK1 on Friday evenings. A childhood full of energy Although Grindeland enjoyed himself and mastered breaking well, school life was not as easy. At school, Grindeland struggled to concentrate, and at primary school he himself says that he was labeled as a problem child. – I was completely crazy when I went to primary school. I was shaking for hours. I couldn’t sit still and just waited for the phone to ring, says Grindeland. It turned out that Grindeland had the condition ADHD. In secondary school, the problems continued. Eventually he was sent on to an alternative school for those who did not fit into this regular school routine. – It didn’t come as a shock to anyone that I had ADHD, but at the new school I finally got the help I needed. Here I finally realized what my strengths were. YOUNG AND Eager: Grindeland learned the art of breakdancing from a young age. YOUNG AND Eager: Grindeland learned the art of breakdancing from a young age. YOUNG AND Eager: Grindeland learned the art of breakdancing from a young age. YOUNG AND Eager: Grindeland learned the art of breakdancing from a young age. He goes on to talk about how he learned to tackle the problems and fix them himself. If he got a bad grade, it was to be beaten at the next opportunity. – I got better grades and I still loved gym. The choice at upper secondary school therefore fell on the sports line. – Did the mentality from breakdancing help you at school? – I used a lot of what I learned in breaking at school. If I were to learn a difficult trick, I had to practice it several times before it stuck. The same applied at school. If I wanted to get better grades, I had to practice more. INSPIRATION: Alongside sports, Grindeland holds several lectures on mental health. He hopes to be of help to others who are struggling at school. Photo: Celina Myklebust Magnussen / news – Full commitment to the Olympics Now the big goal is the Olympics in Paris this summer. In May and June, Grindeland will go through two tournaments with 39 other participants, where the top ten will go to the Olympics. If Grindeland manages to qualify, he will historically become the first Norwegian to participate in breakdancing at an Olympics. – Now there is full focus on the Olympics. I train in warm rooms to simulate the temperature of the competitions. We will be flying in different competitors, or people I can train against to best prepare myself to compete against the level I face in the qualifiers. Breakdance “battle” The competition format consists of a battle between two breakers. Each battle consists of a fixed number of rounds and follows the same sequence: A breaker completes his set first, then the other competing breaker responds by completing his set. A round is completed when both breakers have completed their sets. Battles are judged by a minimum of three judges or another odd number, in addition to a head judge who is responsible for ensuring that the rules are observed. The judges decide based on the criteria of creativity, performance, variety, musicality and personality. The breakers do not know which song will come in advance, and therefore have to improvise a lot in a short time to beat their opponent. Grindeland must have ten to eleven sessions a week, half of which is breaking and the rest strength and injury prevention. At the end of the 2022 season, Grindeland was ranked number eight in the world. At the start of 2023, Grindeland was injured. He therefore lost many international competitions and fell down the rankings. – I tore a ligament in my thumb, and that meant I couldn’t use it for 12 weeks. I went from number eight to number 22 in the world, and had to train myself back in shape to be ranked within the top 40 in the world at the end of January 2024. TRAINING: Grindeland together with his motor skills coach, Lars-Arne Andersen at the Olympiatoppen. They have worked together for four years on the road to the Olympics. Photo: Celina Myklebust Magnussen / news At the end of January, Grindeland got the confirmation he needed. He was ranked among the 40 best in the world among 594 participants. Now all the focus is on the final qualification round in May and June, where the top 40 will become ten Olympic participants. – Is it like a Dane should be good at hill running According to Grindeland, there are around 30 active breakers in Norway. Then you become a little putt, compared to countries like France, where they have close to a million active breakers. – It’s really cool that I’ve managed to get this far in breakdancing when I live in a country that doesn’t have a tradition of being good at breaking. It’s a bit like someone from Denmark should be good at hill running, says Grindeland. INDIVIDUAL SPORT: Breakdance is a small sport in Norway, and Daniel has to train a lot alone without other Norwegians around him. Photo: Celina Myklebust Magnussen / news – Do you feel that breakdancing is recognized as a sport? – No, breaking has always been a street dance in a way. Before breaking became a top sport, I trained as much as I do now. So for me it has always been a top sport, but it has not been recognized until the last few years, says Grindeland. Grindeland has lived from the dance form since high school and went on tours and played in performances. But in 2014 he was close to hitting the wall. – We were on a tour where I remember we played two shows in Fredrikstad in the morning, then we took the plane to Trøndelag in the evening and played two shows in the evening. The next day we took the morning flight back to Fredrikstad and played two shows in the morning. LINDMO: Grindeland at Lindmo on Friday evening. Photo: Julia M. Naglestad / news He talks about how he has learned to take his body into account when it comes to workload and touring life. – You notice a drive like that for several weeks straight, but I have become much better now at being careful to say no, or adjust how much I work, says Grindeland. It can come in handy before the Olympics. – Hopefully I can become the best in the world in Paris.
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Daniel Grindeland (30) bets everything on the breakdance Olympics in 2024 – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
