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Breaking made his official debut in Olympic gamesand social media had praise and jokes about it in equal amounts.
On Friday (August 9), the art of breaking officially became a sport at the Olympics being held in Paris, France. Snoop Dogg opened the event by walking into the venue to his hit, “Drop It Like It's Hot” which sent the packed crowd into a frenzy. The highly anticipated competition kicked off with the B-girls pitted against each other starting with a preliminary round with India Sardjoe from the Netherlands vs Manizha Talash representing the Refugee Olympic Team. Talash, originally from Afghanistan, was unable to compete for her country due to the oppressive restrictions placed on female athletes. Talas wore a 'Free Afghan Women' shawl during her rounds, which she lost to India, who advanced to the round leg.
From there the competition became fierce, with Logan “Logistix” Edra representing Team USA facing Australia's Rachel “Raygun” Gunn in a battle complete with reactions that dancers use to slogan judges that their opponent repeats moves – no-no. While Logistix was praised online for its cycle, some viewers were not tender of Raygun performance. One user wrote in a post on X, formerly on Twitter, “Props to Raygun for having the guts to go there… but that was the most used embarrassment I've ever felt.” Dominika “Nicka” Banevič of Lithuania, the current World champion B-Girl would also dominate Raygun on her way to the medal knockout rounds. Logistix and teammate Sunny Choi will unfortunately not be advancing. The B-Boys competing for gold on Saturday (August 10) were in attendance, seated around the circular stage in front of the giant boombox that held the DJ booth and judging panel.
The competition gained a lot of attention on social media, with some slamming the choice of music played by the DJs and hype-men. Journalist Michael Harriott weighed in with a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Olympic breakdancing is creepy AF. What time is the Olympic Electric Slide competition?' But others applauded the Bronx-born dance form being listed as a sport, including the Hip-Hop Museum which celebrated the creators of the art in a posting thread on X.
Check out some of the reactions below.
