Sun Chen | |
Nickname: | Quake |
Birth Date: | 21 September 1999 |
Birth Place: | Hsinchu, Taiwan |
Sport: | Breakdancing |
Sun Chen (born 21 September 1999) is a Taiwanese breakdancer. Nicknamed "Quake", he competed for Chinese Taipei at the 2022 Asian Games and later qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, where he served as the Taiwanese co-flag bearer.
Chen was born on 21 September 1999, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on the day of the deadly 921 earthquake; as such, his breakdancing nickname is "Quake".[1] [2] He is the youngest of three children and was homeschooled until college.[1] [3] In 2010, the film Step Up became popular in Taiwan; according to Focus Taiwan, it "triggered a fad that had the older guys in the neighborhood practicing moves on paperboards, and Sun felt he had to get involved."[4] He said that "I wasn't making any friends if I didn't join them," and so he enrolled in a breakdancing class that year.[3] [4]
Chen enrolled at the University of Taipei for its street-dance department.[4] He won a U18 championship in Australia in 2017 and gained attention in 2019 by rising to a world ranking of 8th.[1] [3] He placed top four at the 2019 Paris BattlePro tournament and top eight at the 2019 OutBreak Europe.[3] In 2020, Chen won the Red Bull BC One Taiwan tournament, and he defended his Taiwan title in 2021.[1] He competed at the Asian Games in 2023.[4] He placed 15th at the Budapest qualifiers for the 2024 Summer Olympics, but had a combined score from a previous event that led to him qualifying for the Olympics, in the first time breakdancing was featured at the games.[5] He was selected as the Taiwan co-flagbearer at the Olympic opening ceremony, along with Tai Tzu-ying.[6]