From the Australian B-Girl with the meme-worthy “kangaroo” dance move to the silver-medal winning Lithuanian in a durag, the 2024 Olympics’ Breakdancing competition debut had a few moments that raised questions from viewers about whether the essence of the Hip-Hop art form was captured at the Paris Games.
The challenge for Olympic 2024 organizers was to bring Breaking and Hip-Hop culture to a mass audience.
Many viewers were skeptical about the dance form’s addition to the Olympic roster. Others feared the Hip-Hop subculture being co-opted by officials, commercialization and put through a rigid judging structure.
The spirit of Breaking had been rooted in local Black and Brown communities, centered around street battles, cyphers and block parties. Hip-Hop itself was developed as a youth culture within Black and Brown communities - most notably from The Bronx - as a way of escaping strife and socio-economic struggles and making a statement of empowerment at a time when that generation's youth were labeled as lost, lawless kids.
Breakdancing is 1/4 of the original elements of Hip-Hop culture. The other elements are DJ-ing (via vinyl record turntables), emceeing/MCing (hosting or presenting and often interlapped with rap lyrics, rhythm and poetry), and graffiti.
"Breaking", the actual artform term, was publicized and informally categorized as a "dance" upon the media recognizing the massive attention and participation that Breaking had accumulated near the early 1980s. Those who practiced, perfected and performed Breaking were known as "Breakers", and then eventually specified as "Breakdancers". Male or female breakers are culturally referred to "B-Boys" and "B-Girls".
In follow up to the Olympic 2024 Female Breaking Competition August 9th, the Friday night slips “may have alienated too many new viewers to garner the anticipated response from our Olympic premiere,” said Zack Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA and USA Dance, in a text message to the Associated Press.
“We need to change the narrative from yesterday’s first impression of breaking as Olympic sport. There were significant organizational and governance shortcomings that could have been easily reconciled but, unfortunately, negatively impacted Breaking’s first touching point to a new global audience.”
According to Yahoo Sports article The Internet Reacts To Breakdancing 'Abomination' At Summer Olympics, many viewers expressed disdain about certain competitors even being allowed to qualify to compete.
One individual posted, "Breakdancing at the Olympics. I always like to give the new sports a chance, so can confirm it’s an ABOMINATION. The lowest bar ever to be cleared for an Olympic medal. This is like something you’d see outside Irish pubs at closing time". > https://sports.yahoo.com/internet-reacts-breakdancing-abomination-summer-181000889.html
Some of it was ‘weird to see’.
“It’s almost like they are mocking the genre,” wrote one user on X.
Rachael Gunn, or “B-Girl Raygun,” a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, quickly achieved internet fame, but not necessarily for Olympic-level skill.
She was swept out of the round-robin stage without earning a single point, and her unconventional moves landed flat while failing to match the skill level of the other female competitors. At one point, Gunn raised one leg while standing and leaned back with her arms bent toward her ears. At another, while laying on her side, she reached for her toes, flipped over and did it again in a move dubbed “the kangaroo.”
Internet podcasts did recaps. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghaR0KsJOV4
Internet reels produced recaps. > https://x.com/10thstreetblack/status/1822325945820188705
Internet memes captioned recaps. > https://x.com/GaijinMommy/status/1822068271828394477
And an Australian newscaster’s reporting recapped, “… the furore which has swept the nation and indeed much of the world as millions react in shock and bewilderment… Trust me, her performance was so excruciatingly bad that people genuinely believe that it was some elaborate joke.” > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdW1CGbnkFg
Another observation was that of Refugee breaker “B-Girl Talash”, who channeled a rebellious vibe by donning a “Free Afghan Women” cape during her pre-qualifier battle - a defiant and personal statement from the 21-year-old who fled her native Afghanistan to escape Taliban rule.
However, Talash was quickly disqualified for violating the Olympics’ ban on political statements on the field of play.
And many Black viewers, in particular, called out Lithuania’s silver medalist B-Girl Nicka, for donning a durag during each of her battles.
Durags, once worn by enslaved Africans to tie up their hair for work, are still worn by Black people to protect and style their hair. They became a fashionable symbol of Black pride in the 1960s and 1970s and, in the 1990s and early 2000s, also became a popular element of Hip-Hop style. But when worn by those who aren’t Black, durags can be seen as cultural appropriation.
B-Girl Nicka is white. > https://www.instagram.com/p/C-daRPLOkT4/?hl=en
Yet, she was respected for her age and recognized for her medal earned performance; eventhough the 17-year-old breaker won a questionable round judgement against USA B-Girl Logistx. Nika went on to claim the silver medal after losing in the gold medal final to Japan’s B-Girl Ami.
And the teeth-gnasher...
Both American B-Girls were eliminated in Friday’s round-robin phase, a blow to the country representing the birthplace of Hip-Hop in what could be the discipline’s only Games appearance. B-Girl Logistx and B-Girl Sunny both ranked in the top 12 internationally but came up short of the quarterfinals.
B-Girl Logistx's 2 round losses to B-Girl Nicka raised questions of the judges scoring and even left the event commentators surprised, "... we're not judges, we're just here to talk about it."
In recognition of subjective perspectives regarding the Olympic 2024 Women’s Breaking Competitions in Paris, Hip-Hop icon and legend breaker Crazy Legs posted a neutral and solid objective perspective on the matter.
In his brief reel, he explained, “... anyone on that stage is the decision and responsibility of the governing body or committee from each country... Is there some suspect judging... is the judging in need of serious help in terms of how they select the judges? Yeah... The real deal is the judging needs to be worked on and however people are enabling dancers to reach these platforms when they are nowhere near ready has to be fixed... some of the talent up there was amazing and there's certain people [who] should have been in the finals."
Crazy Legs did express that he doesn’t bandwagon the criticism of B-Girl Raygun. >
● SOURCE(S): Cringy moves and a white b-girl’s durag prompt questions about Olympic breaking’s authenticity. Associated Press > https://apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-breaking-a3101ed263a9368bb33627931f5102f3
Internet post link = Watching Olympic Breakdancing has subject me to a Lithuanian girl in a durag. KevOnStage; Internet podcast link = WHOSE MOM IS THIS!?!? REACTING TO OLYMPIC BREAK DANCING!!! Logistx vs. RAYGUN (Paris 2024). Everyday Negros; Internet reel link = This really happened (“So imagine…”). Mandella Eskia; Internet meme link = On a scale of RayGun moves, how is our mental health today? Gaijin Mommy
*VIDEO: Crazy Legs Speaks on Raygun Situation, Decision Makers, and Judging in the Olympics. UndergroundHipHopBlog > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDeXomLkMw4
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