When Tiffany Leung isn’t working in the living room of her spacious apartment, doing footwork or acrobatic moves, she’s enjoying vintage shopping, art, fashion and – snacks.
She is also known as deepfriedtiff to her 2,300 Instagram followers and those closest to the Canadian breaker or breakdancer.
“I’ve been known to be a glutton, especially when it comes to snacks,” the Toronto resident told CBC Sports.
Leung is easily stressed when balancing the demands of her artificial intelligence job, so she often relieves stress with a sugar craving.
“There are moments when I want short-term gratification,” said Leung, who worked for five years at Deloitte, a Toronto-based management consulting firm. “Sometimes I’m starving while working out and I need a sugar boost. I never crave anything healthy or a meal, just snacks and sugar.
“It’s the hardest thing to fix for the Olympics.”
Leung has yet to secure a spot for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, where Breaking will make his debut with 16 women and 16 men. But she’s on course for one of the two-maximum spots available to Canadian women as the No. 1 b-girl or break-girl in the country.
Geoff Reyes, the president of Breaking Canada, which was founded in 2021, believes the 27-year-old is “very close” to realizing her Olympic dream.
“She’s very close to making the top 16,” he noted. “She’s been on the world stage before. She was last fifth at the World Games [July] so that was huge. If that’s any indicator of what can happen at the Olympics, then she’s definitely one of them.”
In December 2020, Leung was at a crossroads in her sporting career when breaking was officially added to the Olympics. She considered focusing fully on her work, complete with financial stability and security.
fear of failure
Leung had similar thoughts shortly after joining Deloitte when she felt overwhelmed by the long hours. The quality of her fracture exercises suffered, and she often came out “mentally drained and unable to move.”
Although she realized she could represent Canada at the Olympics, it’s not a sure thing and she was afraid of failure.
“If I was going to make it,” the former competitive gymnast recalled, “I had to seriously restructure my life, be disciplined, prioritize breaking and try to find a way to manage Deloitte.”
Then she stumbled across the following quote: “Don’t ask yourself what you would do if you knew you wouldn’t fail. She soon chose Breaking, understanding the need to process the discomfort, insecurities and fears after suffering a concussion while Breaking put her on hiatus for the better part of a two-year period from July 2019 to August 2021.
“I was almost ready to let go [from breaking]. I didn’t want to finish in my heart,” recalled Leung, who began breaking in 2013 during her freshman year at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. “I was more scared and ignoring what I wanted to do, deep down. “
Now it’s not just about dancing. It’s about my stamina, the quality of my movement, the ability to do laps [in competition]. – Tiffany Leung on improving her eating habits for an Olympic push
She tries hard to eat healthier and buys trail mix as a snack. Leung has also been researching how to cook for herself and learning how her body feels best during breaks. She recently discovered that sandwiches fueled her energy.
“I’m really focused on what foods fuel my exercises,” said Leung, a 2022 Canadian champion. “[Before the Olympic announcement] I ate horribly and after a workout I would eat horribly. I wasn’t worried about that.
“Now it’s not just about dancing. It’s about my stamina, the quality of my movement, the ability to do laps [in competition] and get the appropriate input and output in practice.
“I love to break,” Leung continued, “but training to go to the Olympics is a very different thing than.” [doing it recreationally]. I can’t wait to switch to this because I think it would improve my braking performance if I don’t have that intense push to accelerate my improvement.
She added: “I try to be [more] Being disciplined for the Olympics was a bit more difficult because outside of work I like not to be so strict and disciplined with every hour I have.”
Full competition schedule
With food being one of her biggest expenses and the Olympics being costly, especially for unsponsored athletes like Leung, she wishes she had saved more money in her early years at Deloitte that would have allowed her to take a year off take to focus on Olympic training.
Leung will open her 2023 schedule on Friday in Japan, the first of five Breaking for Gold World Series events this year where breakers can earn Olympic qualifying points. A top-four finish at the May 27-28 Pan Am Championships in Chile would earn Leung a seat at November’s Pan Am Games, an Olympic qualifier also being held in Chile.
Leung, who founded the all-female Toronto-based Kuru Crew in 2016, is expected to attend two in-city events in Montreal in late April and June 3-4. The winners of each category at the World Championships from September 22nd to 24th in Belgium and Pan Ams qualify directly for the Olympic Games.
Reyes was impressed with Leung’s execution ability.
“She gains more confidence with every event. That alone [valuable] Training,” he said. “We want to get her to a place where she’s training enough, confident, and in a good place in her development.”
Leung, who describes her breaking style as dynamic and playful, focuses on improving her endurance along with the quality of her movements, freezes (holding position without moving at the end of a round) and power moves (which focus on speed, momentum and acrobatic elements ).
“When I played two rounds against three people at the World Games [last year]even though I got top seed, my legs gave out,” she said.
“I want to share my style because I know nobody dances like me. In competition, my movements are original and creative. I have the physicality, form and quality of movement to give me an advantage [on the competition].
“I’m not going to say which moves are trendy,” Leung continued. “My approach is to be free in my movement and my style, to be truthful and authentic in my movement. That’s how I want to win.”
