Goodbye Olympic breakdancing, we hardly knew ye

Pour one out for Raygun

By Emma Keates  |  August 12, 2024 | 2:06pm
Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
News News 2024 Summer Olympics
Goodbye Olympic breakdancing, we hardly knew ye

The International Olympic Committee is packing up from Paris, and putting its dancing shoes away indefinitely. Despite becoming one of the biggest stories out of this year’s games, breaking—a.k.a. breakdancing—will not award any medals in 2028. Every two years, Olympic host countries are given the opportunity to propose new sports for the roster. Per NBC News, Los Angeles will see the debuts of flag football and squash, along with the return of lacrosse, cricket, baseball, and softball. Unfortunately, that means it’s time for breaking to sashay away—for now. There’s still a small chance it could be included in the 2032 games in Brisbane, Australia. 

Although a dance lobby known as the World DanceSport Federation (WDF) has been campaigning to get breaking into the Olympics for years now, the event’s inaugural performance was over in a flash—and largely overshadowed by memes and then, of course, all the expected discourse about a 36-year-old Australian B-girl named Raygun who did a “kangaroo” hop in the middle of her routine and scored zero points. If you missed the fun over the weekend, here’s a brief recap:

To give Raygun—who moonlights as university professor Rachael Gunn, a lecturer on “dance, gender politics, and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies”—her props, she did defend her performance to ESPN as follows: “I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best—their power moves… What I bring is creativity.” That she certainly did.

Of course, the mixed rollout of this already controversial inclusion also brought up some important discussions around cultural appropriation (specifically related to a white, Lithuanian dancer who wore a durag) and the optics of turning an art form created by Black and brown communities in the Bronx into a competitive sport.

In the end, however, it seems like the competitors at least had a great time bringing their passion to the world stage. “It’s just a win for all of us. I’m just super happy for breaking and hip-hop culture. We represented, and everyone loved it,” bronze medalist Victor Montalvo—a.k.a. B-boy Victor—told USA Today. “The crowd was going crazy. It’s OK. We’re not in 2028, but honestly, I (am) the first ever bronze medalist for breaking. So, that’s an amazing thing to say.”

 
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