Sunny Choi Makes History As First Woman To Qualify For 'Breaking' At 2024 Olympics!

Sunny Choi is making history as the first American woman to qualify for breakdancing's debut as a new sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Tennessee native, who won the inaugural gold medal in breaking at the November 2023 Pan American Games, recently partnered with the Incredible Egg to share a peek into her life as an Olympic-bound B-girl, as well as share some of her favorite egg-based recipes.

Choi, 35, was a gymnast in her youth but was forced into retirement due to injuries. During college at the University of Pennsylvania, she found breakdancing and fell in love with the physical challenges and opportunities for self-expression the sport offered.

After graduating college, Choi entered corporate America at a large beauty brand, but in her mid-30s, decided to pursue her dream of competing in breaking.

"My Olympic dream started when I was three. I watched the 1992 Olympic Games. I gravitated towards gymnastics, so I actually started gymnastics when I was three. And apparently, on my way to my first class, I asked my mom if I was going to win a gold medal," she told The Blast exclusively.

"And so from a pretty young age, my sights were set on winning gold at the Games. When I was around 12, I think we decided not to go that path. And so I continued with gymnastics and I signed with the collegiate team. I ended up having a couple of injuries, so I quit gymnastics."

When she got to college, she wasn't involved in any sports despite always being an athlete. That's when she "stumbled into breaking."

"Initially, I was kind of hooked because of the physical piece of the sport. Because I just missed being upside down and doing things that were like really physically challenging," she explained. "What kept me was the community and the self-expression and creative component of breaking."

When Choi was announced for the Olympics, she had to make a decision between her two lives and ultimately chose to "step away from doing all the things that I thought I was supposed to do and step into a life of doing what I really wanted to be doing."

"I've been really fortunate along this journey to find my way and be happy now and be me," she said.

When asked what advice she has for other athletes who aspire to compete in the Olympics, she said there isn't just one thing she can say that will change anyone's life.

"This journey looks so different for every single person because every single person's motivations are different. Every single person's fears are different. The obstacles look different," she told The Blast.

"What I realized is it's really about trusting your gut. There's instinct there that we all have and we know at the end of the day what we really want and whether we can really make it happen or not. So I think it's about listening to that inner voice that you know some of us squash from a really young age because society tells us that voice is not right and that we should be doing other things."

For Choi, a partnership with the Incredible Egg made so much sense. She explained that she not only loves eggs, but she incorporates eggs into her meals every day.

"Not only am I a huge foodie, but I really truly eat eggs almost every single meal of the day," she told The Blast.

"Also, the 'Meant To Be Broken' campaign speaks to my journey to the Olympics in kind of the way in which I was able to break out of my shell, kind of living in this box that I had put myself in based off of the expectations that I thought others had of me, and really allowing myself to kind of step outside of that to pursue a different pathway, find something that was going to make me happy, pursue my childhood dreams, and in the end just be a better me."

The Incredible Egg's "Meant to Be Broken" campaign premiers this summer and will highlight how eggs can help you break the routine, and sometimes the rules, to take life to a whole new level.

With such a serious love for eggs, Choi has many recipes that include eggs. She said that she loves to get creative in the kitchen because that's when everything else stops for a little bit, such as to-do lists, Olympic training, and other parts of her life that consume much of her time.

"When I'm in the kitchen, that all stops for a little bit, and all that matters is spending that moment in the kitchen having some fun and being a little creative and then having something to eat immediately afterward," she said.

One thing Choi loves to make and eat is her custard freeze recipe, which she recently shared on her Instagram page.

"This Custard Freeze is my favorite sweet treat for me-time while I’m training. It’s super easy to make and very customizable! This recipe is for a vanilla almond version and it’s a great starting place to get creative. I like to use whatever is lying around my kitchen or adjust for my flavor cravings that day!" she wrote in her Instagram video caption.

"I put some variations in the comments for you (my “Sunny style” version is a matcha flavored custard freeze - yum!). Hope you have fun with the recipe and let me know which flavor combos you come up with!"

Visit her Instagram page for ingredients and cooking instructions.

As the top-ranked B-Girl, Choi has more dreams and goals once the Olympics is over.

"I think breaking related, I want to open a dance center, kind of in combination with a community center here in Queens. And I actually would love food to be a part of that because I do think kind of in training and just in life in general, you know, even in terms of doing community programming, I think diet and nutrition is something that's really important," she told The Blast.

"So I'd love to introduce a healthy lifestyle to people who may not have access to that kind of information. So I kind of want to continue my breaking journey that way and give back to the community and have a business of my own."

And because she's such a foodie, she also wants to get more into baking when some free time opens up.