Amir Zakirov | |
Nickname: | B-Boy Amir |
Birth Date: | 10 October 1997 |
Birth Place: | Petropavl, Kazakhstan |
Sport: | Breakdancing |
Amir Zakirov (; born 10 October 1997) is a Kazakh breakdancer. He qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Zakirov was born on 10 October 1997 in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan.[1] He grew up in a small Kazakh city and enjoyed dancing, but there were limited opportunities for him to do so.[2] He self-trained in parkour before discovering a breakdancing class in 2009.[1] [2] Olympics.com noted:
Zakirov was signed up for classes, using limited money he had from selling copper.[3] When it became insufficient, he resorted to using the money his parents gave him for school lunch to take classes: he noted "I used the money my parents gave me for lunch in school to pay for the breaking. Because of this I had stomach pains from not eating all day, making it really hard to concentrate in school, but I wanted to use this money for breaking."[3] [4] Eventually, the teacher allowed him to attend for free.[5]
At age 16, Zakirov graduated from school and moved to Omsk in Russia, then to Moscow aged 20.[5] In Russia, he joined the club Predatorz and PDVL crew.[3] In 2020, he won the Legits Blast tournament in Prague.[5] He opened 2021 by winning the Unbreakable championship and the Kazakhstan Cypher tournament.[3] Later that year, he won the Red Bull BC One championship.[3] [6] He competed at the world championships in 2022 and received selection that year to the Forbes Kazakhstan 30 Under 30 list.[5] He won the Breaking for Gold tournament in Japan in 2023.[7] Zakirov competed at the 2024 Olympic Qualifier Series and qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which featured breakdancing for the first time.[8]