The International Olympic Committee -IOC- has selected Japan’s Hiroto Ono, known internationally as B-Boy Hiro10, as an Athlete Role Model for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. The breaker from Japan, an Olympian at Paris 2024, will join the group of role models who will support young athletes during the first Olympic sporting event to be held on the African continent.
Ono will be in Senegal from 31 October to 13 November 2026, as part of a programme that now brings together 36 Athlete Role Models from different disciplines. His role will involve working with B-Boys and B-Girls aged 15 to 17 in the Youth Olympic Village, taking part in workshops on career management, mental preparation and injury prevention, supporting athletes during competition and joining community activities. “Hiroto embodies the very soul of Breaking: authenticity, resilience, and global community,” said Shawn Tay, president of the World DanceSport Federation -WDSF-.
From Ishikawa to the Olympic stage
Ono’s story began far from the major stages. Born in Ishikawa Prefecture, he came to breaking almost by accident after trying several activities without finding one that suited him. “When I was young, I tried different activities but couldn’t stick with any of them. I discovered Breaking through my sister’s dance class, and seeing others inspired me to improve,” he explained.
His growth also had a family foundation. His parents and sister supported him from the beginning, while his father even adapted the family hair salon in Kanazawa into a training space after working hours. “I think it’s my parents and my younger sister, who have supported me since the beginning, as well as the people I trained with in Breaking. Their support, along with my own passion, has really shaped who I am today. I don’t do it for anyone else in particular, I do it because I genuinely love Breaking,” Ono said.
A style built on power moves
Hiro10 became recognisable for his power moves, a physical, explosive and visual way of understanding breaking. He has explained that, after losing a competition, a senior dancer told him that his power moves were “really cool” and that he liked his shape. Those words helped him understand his path: “That made me realise that what I truly love is expressing my own style through power moves. Since then, I’ve made that my main focus, trained with that mindset, and it became my biggest strength. No matter what anyone says, I’ve stayed true to that style.”
His development also accelerated away from home. As a teenager, he travelled to Europe, trained in the Netherlands, competed in international events and began building a network of friendships within the scene. “Living abroad and spending a lot of time with foreign people helped me open up and learn to stay relaxed and enjoy competitions,” he said. In another interview, he summed up that idea more broadly: “Breaking is like a language. It allows me to connect not only with people from Japan, but also with people from abroad.”
Paris 2024 and a lesson beyond the result
Paris 2024 was the biggest competitive stage of his career, but also a difficult experience. Hiro10 did not get past the Round Robin, although he later interpreted that result as a lesson about the real value of breaking. “One thing I learned from the Olympics is that trying too hard to ‘enjoy it’ can actually make it harder to enjoy,” he explained. “I realised that if I can accept my weaknesses and still enjoy, push myself, and aim to win, that’s when I’m at my strongest,” he added.
The Olympic process also changed the way he understood competition. Before reaching Paris, Ono had admitted that for a while he did not really see himself fighting for a place at the Games, until several international results changed his perception. “I used to believe I would never make it to the Olympics, but over time I learned to keep believing while accepting any outcome, and that helped me eventually qualify,” he said.
Ishikawa, family and the value of representing
His relationship with Ishikawa also shaped his road to Paris. After the 2024 Noto earthquake, his grandmother was among those affected, and Ono began to see breaking as a way of giving energy back to his community. Before the Games, he explained that he wanted to “cheer up Ishikawa, even if only a little” through his dancing, an idea that connects with the message he will now take to Dakar: competition matters, but breaking can also be a form of representation, support and connection.
That is the view he wants to share with the next generation. “Don’t focus too much on winning and losing, because you can lose yourself if that becomes the only thing that matters. Of course, winning is important, but it’s not everything. One of the greatest values of Breaking is connecting with people,” he said. Hiro10 therefore arrives at Dakar 2026 as a young Olympian, still evolving, but with a central idea for future B-Boys and B-Girls: remember why they started and keep breaking.
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