The infamous Australian breakdancer who attracted worldwide attention for her quirky moves at the summer Olympics has somehow found her way to the top-spot in the international rankings of her sport — even though she failed to score one point in any of her Olympic competitions.
Rachel Gunn, who goes by Raygun when she performs, was recently ranked the top female breakdancer in the world.
Naturally, there was a lot of backlash, uproar and jokes flying all over social media when this was announced. The governing body of the sport responded to all that this week, issuing a statement to “address concerns” as well as “provide clarity” regarding the methodology it uses to determine the rankings.
According to the governing body, the World DanceSport Federation, each athlete is assessed based on the results from their top four performances that happened over the last 12 months. All Olympic-related events, including Olympic qualifying matches, are excluded from those performances.
This means that while Raygun didn’t score any points in the three rounds of competition at the Paris Olympics, she was still able to be ranked number one in the world due to her results from other local competitions over the last 12 months.
Raygun was criticized heavily by people — and become the butt of jokes for many, many others — with her unorthodox moves that she used during the Olympics, which included a kangaroo hop and the sprinkler.
On Tuesday, the WDSF issued a statement that tried to address the criticism that’s been swirling over its rankings and the transparency of the organization as a whole.
It tried to explain that “ranking events” were not held from the end of last year and the Olympics on purpose. This was meant to give athletes the time to “focus solely” on the Olympic Games.
What that decision did, though, is create “unique circumstances” in which some athletes had their world ranking determined by only one event.
Raygun has 1,000 points, according to the rankings, and that comes from her first-place finish at the October 2023 Oceania continental championships.
The WDSF said in the statement:
“The world rankings as they currently stand should be interpreted in conjunction with results from recent global breaking competitions for a more accurate reflection of the global competitive landscape.”
Those who were unfamiliar with breaking before the Olympics were split on Raygun’s performance. Some have supported her, despite the fact that she didn’t score any points.
Others, though, have mocked her performance, and even said she’s made a mockery of the sport itself.
There have been many questions about whether breaking is even a sport at all, and whether it should have been part of the Paris Games. It debuted just this year at the Olympics, but isn’t currently on the docket for the next Olympics, which are set to be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
There are also big questions about the validity of the WDSF itself.
Zack Slusser, the vice president of Breaking for Gold USA, told The Associated Press that the organization doesn’t have “any real merit” within the breaking community.
He added that the WDSF failed to organize enough events that would “contribute to creating an accurate world ranking.”
