Breaking’s First (And Last?) Olympic Appearance | Olympics | Sports Illustrated

Hosts Mitch Goldich and Dan Gartland discuss the high's and low's of breaking's Olympic debut on today's episode of the Daily Rings podcast
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[anythinggoesshorts]

It's the Olympic official's fault for letting Raygun participate in the Olympics. Clearly, you can see that she was not qualified to compete at the Olympic level. How did she get past the qualifications?

[cristianserret]

I was at work watching it live. Me and my co-workers laughed our arses for an hour.😂

[RachelJohnston-qm]

As an Aussie, no-one in Australia can understand why Raygun was dressed liked a Cricketer and how in the world she made it to the Olympics (WTF is the kangaroo jump), Keep an eye on Jeff Dunne (Australia) though he is good for a 16year old.

[justinekelly]

I'm Australian and I haven't laughed so hard in years. This is Cris Lily.

[ZoroastrianFlame]

As an Australian, I can honestly say, fucking hilarious! 😂

[Adam-nsrd]

This is a classic 5 year old nephew situation saying "Watch what I can do"

[goodshipkaraboudjan]

Australia has just had the best Olympics performance in our history, 20 million people put together the 3rd best team on the planet. And this is what it'll be remembered for...

[johnduarte]

She was even wearing a cricket outfit omg 😂😂😂 she represents Australia not for the breakdance but for their humour 😂😂

[miichealbolton]

As an Australian please take my apology our entry was horrible

[deletedwaffles]

The other competitors pretty much got overshadowed by Raygun in the worst possible way. Any time breakdancing gets brought up it'll not be because of the quality of the other dancers it'll be because of Raygun.

[keikei]

All jokes aside, her entry is a massive slap in the face to the Olympic athletes who did/did not make it and worked their whole lives for a brief single moment at the games. Her entry is insulting to the sacrifices of the athletes, their family’s sacrifices and all the pain, blood, sweat, tears, and struggles they endured for years to decades to become an elite world class athlete. Rebecca Andrade walked 2 hrs everyday to train at her gym, Chloe Kim’s dad drove 20 hours to and from every weekend to take her to train. Then you have regular person plucked from her academic scholarship-who isn’t even a break dancer, who has not put in the long years of training-competing at the Olympics. She did not take it seriously from how she was dressed to her doing the sprinkler, kangaroo, and other weird cringey moves. She did not dedicate her life, spend her days and time breaking but yet, she’s allowed to qualify for the Olympics on a technicality. She jumped around and posed on stage; it was a waste of time and a waste of a spot of a true competitor w actual skill and talent. It was full on posturing and her presence was an insult and offensive to all break dancers, to the Olympic athletes, and the games. She made a joke of breaking and made break dancers look bad. Audiences don’t tune in to watch below average or just plain bad ‘athletes’ perform. She is not a break dancer and to allow her to compete at the first ever breaking competition at the Olympics is a huge slap in the face. Her academic writings about it is not enough to make her a B-Girl let alone an Olympian. Breaking is not even a real hobby for her; she’s just using it and exploiting it to make herself cute and quirky. Raygun is a fake and wannabe, her performance was disrespectful to the culture and history of breaking. She should have been a spectator like the rest of us watching at home if she loves and respects breaking as much as she claims. Raygun should have withdrew and not participated in the games out of respect to the B-girls and all other Olympic athletes. She selfishly took the spotlight off the gold medalist, Ami and all the other competitors. Elite athletes strive their entire lives for a fleeting chance, a shinning moment to participate at the games. It’s disrespectful to all Olympic athletes and takes the spotlight off the true groundbreaking artists in breaking and makes a joke out of the sport. Breaking is not a guaranteed sport in future Olympics. It’s trying to secure itself as a sport in every Olympic games; however, having an entry like Raygun dilutes the skill and mastery needed and pokes fun of breaking/break dancers and makes audiences not take breaking/break dancers seriously and viewers at home question and criticize it being an Olympic sport if entries like Raygun are able to compete on an elite level. She is making a mockery of breaking and spitting in the face of all the hard earned spots at the Olympics, that athletes have long fought for. These people painfully work their entire lives w one goal and aim in mind, they make huge sacrifices to be an elite athlete competing at the Olympics. And yet, here you have some less than mediocre joker entering the Olympics as an athlete at a new sport that’s trying to garner the respect it deserves. This isn’t a joke, serious break dancers have dedicated their time and their life to breaking; it’s not a hobby or past time, and Raygun spits in the face of all of them, of all Olympics athletes, and dumps on the culture and history of breaking. She is a mockery of the Olympic games and to elite athletes.

[DJsamaTV]

Dan and Mitch,

I strongly encourage you to do your homework before making comments on Breakin’. Your recent remarks make it clear that you’re out of touch with the sport and lack an understanding of the culture behind it. Breakin’ is not just a dance; it’s a dynamic, growing sport with deep roots in urban communities across cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Texas.

While I respect all Olympic sports, including table tennis, sailing, fencing, and badminton, the reality is that Breakin' resonates with urban youth in a way these other sports do not. That’s why it deserves its place on the Olympic stage. It’s not just about being entertaining; it’s about representing a culture that is expanding and evolving every day.

The suggestion that Breakin’ doesn’t deserve a larger platform is misguided. Just because you’re not a fan doesn’t give you the right to diminish the impact and importance of this sport. I recommend you take the time to learn more about Breakin’—understand the musicality, the moves, and the culture—before making uninformed comments. Your opinions would be more credible if they were grounded in knowledge rather than assumptions. Felix Sama President Of USA Breakin....www.usabreakin.org

[NayTron]

The fact that you guys are half serious and half making a mockery of the Breaking competition when you both barely watched the battles says everything. You talked about Raygun's performance more than the 3 B-Girls that took medals. 671 - Bronze, Nicka - Silver and Ami - Gold. I really hope you guys watch the whole B-Boy battle tomorrow instead of focusing on whoever the next meme is gonna be.

[stevennicholson-ebru]

Man if they had break dancing in the Olympics in the 90s I would've made the team 😂😂😂

[tpjpower]

I like, like, the way these, like, guys use the, like, word, “like”, with, like, a degree of, like, frequency, that like, exceeds whatwe’d typically, like, expect from, like, experienced media, like, people, or like, hosts, or whatever.

[juliusnonu]

When you lie on your resume and get away with it hahaha

[isbme]

Dan You said "Like" more times than "and". How old are you?

[marchhoney]

I hope it comes back, I thought it was really interesting and fun to watch. Ami was really impressive tbh

[macman]

Considering we allow Ice Dancing and Equestrian Dressage I don't have a problem with Breakdancing being included. After all in the early days of the modern Olympics a prize was given for Art as an Olympic event . People seem to be so quick to moan and complain these days . In Australia we have a name for this " Sookie La La " . Its where adults cry and complain like toddlers.

[goose]

The problem is so many unqualified people talking about something they know nothing about…So why would it be pushed to be in any other Olympics…While I consider it more of an art form I do agree that it should be represented in the Olympics. Idk what they saw but I saw a all the seats full in the competition!