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Breaking made its official debut at the Olympic Games, and social media had praise and jokes for it in equal amounts.
On Friday (August 9), the art of breaking officially became a sport at the Olympic Games being held in Paris, France. Snoop Dogg opened up the event walking into the venue to his hit, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” which got the packed crowd hyped up. The much-anticipated competition began with the B-girls facing off against each other beginning with a pre-qualifying round featuring India Sardjoe of The Netherlands against Manizha Talash representing the Olympic Refugee Team. Talash, originally from Afghanistan, was unable to compete for her country due to its oppressive restrictions on women athletes. Talash sported a “Free Afghan Women” shawl during her rounds, which she lost to India who advanced to the round-robin bracket.
From there the competition got fierce, with Logan “Logistix” Edra representing Team USA facing off against Australia’s Rachel “Raygun” Gunn in a battle complete with reactions dancers use to signal judges that their opponent is repeating moves – a no-no. While Logistix was lauded online for her round, some viewers weren’t fond of Raygun’s performance. One user wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, “Props to Raygun for having the guts to go out there… but this was the most secondhand embarrassment I’ve ever felt.” Dominika “Nicka” Banevič of Lithuania, the current B-Girl world champion would also dominate Raygun on her way to the medal knockout rounds. Logistix and teammate Sunny Choi would unfortunately not advance. The B-Boys who are competing for the gold on Saturday (August 10) were in attendance, seated around the circular stage in front of the giant boombox which held the DJ stand and the judges’ panel.
The competition gained a lot of attention on social media, with some knocking the choice of music being played by the DJs and the hype-men. Journalist Michael Harriott weighed in with a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Olympic breakdancing is cringe AF. What time is the Olympic Electric Slide competition?” But others applauded the Bronx-born dance form being included as a sport, including The Hip-Hop Museum which celebrated the originators of the art in a post thread on X.
Check out some of the reactions below.