Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, or “b-girl Raygun,” holds the highest spot in her sport’s newest world rankings, regardless of Olympic performances that led to on-line ridicule.
On Tuesday, the game’s governing physique issued an announcement to “present readability” on why Raygun tops the rankings.
Raygun, a 37-year-old college lecturer from Sydney, failed to attain any factors on the Paris Olympics in routines that included a “kangaroo” dance.
The World DanceSport Federation mentioned the rating methodology is predicated on every athlete’s high 4 performances inside the previous 12 months — however excludes Olympic occasions together with the Paris Video games and Olympic qualifier collection occasions in Shanghai and Budapest.
Moreover, no rating occasions have been held between December 2023 and the Olympics — to permit athletes to concentrate on qualification.
The federation clarified that the bizarre circumstances of this yr’s competitors schedule resulted in lots of athletes being ranked primarily based on a single occasion. In Raygun’s case, her first-place end on the Oceania continental championships in October 2023 earned her 1,000 factors.
Many inside the breaking group have criticised the rankings for not giving a transparent image of breaking as a sport and as a tradition.
“Talking of the WDSF, they really have no actual advantage with the breakers or the breaking group,” mentioned Zack Slusser, vice chairman of Breaking for Gold USA.
“And so they additionally have not been capable of organise occasions by their measure that will contribute to creating an correct world rating.”
In line with Slusser, breakers solely carried out in occasions organised by the WDSF — the Lausanne-based governing physique for aggressive dance sports activities — to get sufficient factors to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Breakers “had no incentive, no want to even proceed collaborating with the WDSF after that” Slusser mentioned.
“As a result of they are not cultural occasions. They aren’t pleasing.”
In distinction, Slusser pointed to worldwide breaking competitions like Pink Bull BC One championships that “are like festivals which can be geared to the breakers. It is concerning the vibe, it is concerning the group.”
The WDSF mentioned rankings will change as soon as extra occasions happen, beginning with the Breaking for Gold World Sequence in Shanghai in October.
AP