The breaking community wants the world to give B-Girl Raygun a break as the Paris Olympics end.
The sport made its Olympic debut in Paris – it may never return – and one of the lasting images was the performance of an Australian B-girl named Raygun, who performed a “kangaroo dance” and scored zero points.
In a show of support, the head judge of the breaking competition on Sunday said 36-year-old university professor Rachael Gunn was simply trying to be original. And the breaking association said it had offered psychological support following the online criticism.
“Breakdancing is about originality and bringing something new and representing your country or region,” said head judge Martin Gilian – known as MGbility – at a press conference. “That’s exactly what Raygun did. She was inspired by her surroundings, which in this case was a kangaroo, for example.”
The breaking and hip-hop communities “are definitely behind her,” he added.
“We have five criteria in the judging system for the competition and her level may not have been as high as the other competitors,” said MGbility. “But again, that means she was really bad. She did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier. … Unfortunately, the other B-girls were better.”
Sergey Nifontov, secretary general of the World DanceSport Federation, said they had been in direct contact with Gunn and officials of the Australian Olympic team.
“We have offered the support of our safety officer. We are aware of what has happened, especially on social media, and we should definitely put the athlete’s safety, in this case psychological safety, first,” he said. “She has our support as a federation.”
Breaking – known to many as breakdancing, a term the performers dislike – will not be on the program at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The next Summer Games will take place in Brisbane, Australia.
Victor Montalvo, breaker of the US team, was the first to win bronze in breaking.
“We believe this has nothing to do with our chances for Brisbane 2032,” Nifontov said when asked about the criticism of Raygun and the return to the Olympics.
Japan’s Ami Yuasa, better known as B-Girl Ami, won the gold medal and said she wished Los Angeles organizers had waited to experience the energy between the athletes and the crowd at Place de la Concorde.
“I’m so sad that it’s not in Los Angeles because breaking was born in the USA,” she said on Sunday. “Breaking is not just a sport, it’s also an expression of myself and art.”
Association president Shawn Tay defended the development – from an art form that began in the Bronx in the 1970s to an appearance at the Olympic Games. Critics questioned the commercialization of the sport.
“From the beginning, we were warned that some of the breakers – the best breakers – might not participate,” he said. “But now we’ve managed to take them all – we’ve got the best breakers. Now they’re fighting for the glory of their country – that’s something totally different. And that’s actually what made them improve so much and work so hard and more scientifically.”
