Australian athlete Rachel Gunn, known as B-Girl Rae Gunn, competes during a round robin battle in the breaking competition at La Concorde Urban Park during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin)
PARIS — Now that the Paris Olympics have come to a close, the breaking community is hoping the world can give Breaking Girl Raegan a break.
The sport made its Olympic debut in Paris but will probably never return to the Olympics. One memorable moment was when Australian breakdancer Rae Gunn performed the “kangaroo dance” and received a zero.
On Sunday, the competition’s head judge expressed support for Rachel Gunn, a 36-year-old university professor, saying she was just trying to be creative. The breaking federation also said it was offering mental health support in the wake of the online criticism.
Read: Japanese breakdancer Ami wins first Olympic gold medal in breakdancing
“Breaking is all about originality, bringing something new and representing your country or region,” judge chair Martin Gillian, known as MGbility, told a news conference. “And that’s exactly what Raegan was doing. She was inspired by what was around her, in this case kangaroos.”
The breaking and hip-hop community “definitely supports her,” he added.
“The judging system had five criteria, and maybe her level wasn’t as high as the other competitors,” MGbility told me, “but that doesn’t mean she didn’t do well. She did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier. … Unfortunately, the other breakdancers were better.”
World DanceSport Federation secretary general Sergei Nifontov said he was in direct contact with Gunn and Australian Olympic team officials.
“We have offered our safety officer support. We are aware of what has happened, particularly on social media, and the safety of the player, in this case their psychological safety, must come first,” he said. “We are supporting her as a federation.”
Breaking (known to many as breakdancing, a term disliked by its performers) is not on the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The next Summer Olympics will be held in Brisbane, Australia.
Read: Breakdancing to be included in 2024 Paris Olympics to appeal to young people
Asked about the criticism of Reagan and his return to the Olympics, Nifontov said: “I don’t think this has anything to do with our chances of Brisbane 2032 at all.”
Japan’s Ami Yuasa, known as B-Girl Ami, won gold and said she wished the Los Angeles organizers had waited until they could experience the energy between athletes and spectators at the Place de la Concorde.
“It’s a real shame it’s not happening in Los Angeles because breaking is an American sport,” she said Sunday. “Breaking is not just a sport, it’s an art form of self-expression.”
The federation’s president, Shawn Tay, defended the evolution of what began as an art form in the Bronx in the 1970s into an Olympic sport, even as critics questioned the commercialization of the sport.
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“We were warned from the beginning that some of the top breakers might not be able to take part,” he said, “but now we’ve managed to get them all to take part. All the best breakers are here. They’re now fighting for the glory of their country – it’s something completely different. And that’s what’s driven them to improve even more and work harder in a more scientific way.”
Check out Inquirer Sports’ special coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
