B-girl Raygun has made history as Australia's first competitor in the sport of breaking's Olympic Games debut
Raygun, whose real name is Rachael Gunn, said she wanted to inject "a little bit of Australian character" into her performance against a stacked field of break dancing stars from around the world.
"I was always going to be the underdog going in," Raygun told Nine after her final performance.
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"I'm not as well known, you know. Australia, we haven't had the same level of investment going in.
"And look, I was never going to beat these b-girls at what they do, so I did what I do best and I went out and I showed myself, my creativity, my style, a little bit of Australian character so that I could try and make my mark on this world stage."
The Paris 2024 competition opened with a round-robin phase, where groups of four breakers face off against each other one by one. Only two emerge from each round-robin group before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final matchup to determine the champion.
Raygun was unsuccessful in all three of her battles against Logistx from USA, Syssy from France, and Nicka from Lithuania, going down 18-0 in each one.
Raygun, a 36-year-old full-time lecturer at Sydney's Macquarie University, completed a PhD in breaking culture and is a lecturer in media, creative arts, literature and language.
After being selected in the Australian Olympic team last year she said she was excited to add a shakeup to the sport's image.
Raygun has also spoken out about the lack of government funding for breaking in Australia, saying it angered her that only $35,000 was allocated to "dance sport", as it's categorised by the Australian Sports Commission, for the 2023-24 financial year. The only sport that was given less money for the last financial year was "flying disc", which received $30,000.
American upset
Both American b-girls were eliminated in the first round overnight, a blow to the country representing the birthplace of hip-hop and breaking culture in what could be the discipline's only Games appearance.
B-girl Logistx (legal name Logan Edra) and b-girl Sunny (Sunny Choi) both ranked in the top 12 internationally but came up short of the quarter-finals. Instead, eight b-girls representing the Netherlands, China, Lithuania, France, Japan and Ukraine advanced after round-robin battles trimmed the field from 16. Breaking was added as an Olympic sport for Paris, but it is not on the slate for Los Angeles in 2028.
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"I feel like I still shined and I feel like I still represented the dance and had some moments," Logistx said. "It was such a big opportunity, it's such a big platform, and I'm really happy that we're here."
Logistx had an emotional journey leading up to the competition. She spent several days isolated from the rest of the athletes in the Olympic Village after falling ill following the rainy opening ceremony. She emerged earlier this week ready to battle.
"I feel proud of myself because life's been a lot. I feel like I've pushed really hard, beyond the limits of what I thought I was capable of," she said.
Day one of Olympic breaking
A panel of nine judges, all b-boys and b-girls in their own right from around the world, scored the breakers based on the Trivium judging system: on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality — each accounts for 20 per cent of the final score.
"I'm really happy to be competing here in France. The audience was really good with me — I felt their energy and I'm really looking forward to tonight," said b-girl Syssy, a hometown favourite whose legal name is Sya Dembélé. Syssy had the energy of the crowd behind her, with huge applause following her every power move.
Breakers wowed the crowd with power moves like headspins, windmills and backflips. Fans remained energetic throughout the nearly three-hour-long initial phase of the competition, even as rain periodically came down. The stage was shielded from rain.
Each of the b-girls began by catching the beat as they danced while on their feet — a series called "toprocking" — before launching into their footwork moves on the floor. The soundtrack to their routines was a surprise for each of them, as two DJs spun records on a turntable set up behind the judges.
The judges sat between the circular floor, modelled after a record, and a massive replica of a boombox, in a nod to the musical root of breaking — the breakbeat itself — which is the moment when a song's vocals drop and the DJ loops the beat over and over. That allows b-boys and b-girls to make their mark on the dance floor.
Breaking is judged qualitatively because of its roots as an art form, and judges use a sliding scale to score each round and battle, adjusting the scale towards the breaker who is winning in each of the above criteria. Throughout, two emcees respond to the personalities and signature moves of each of the breakers to hype up the crowd.
Breaking gets a rousing Olympic start
B-girl India from the Netherlands — legal name India Sardjoe — came out at the top of her group during the round-robin phase. Earlier, India beat refugee team member b-girl Talash in the first ever breaking battle at the Olympics.
The one-off pre-qualifier was added in May, when Manizha Talash was added to the Olympic roster after the b-girl from Afghanistan missed registration for qualifying events.
The International Olympic Committee's executive board invited her to participate after learning of her efforts to defy the strict rule of the Taliban in her home country.
Sardjoe started her routine showing off some of her power moves before Talash responded by focusing on toprocking and moving into footwork on the floor.
Talahs later unfurled a cape that said "Free Afghan Women."
The eight b-girls proceed to the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final matchup to determine the champion by the end of the evening.
Before the battle began, American rapper Snoop Dogg made a grand entrance into the stadium to the soundtrack of Drop it Like it's Hot, prompting cheers and dancing in the stands.
The emcees introduced the 17 b-girls competing on Friday, with the b-girls from France and the US received the loudest applause from the crowd.
- Reported with AP
