From the Australian b-girl with the meme-worthy “kangaroo” dance move to the silver-medal winning Lithuanian in a durag, breaking's Olympic debut had a few moments that raised questions from viewers about whether the essence of the hip-hop art form was captured at the Paris Games.
Rachael Gunn, or “b-girl Raygun," a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, quickly achieved internet fame, but not necessarily for Olympic-level skill. Competing against some b-girls half her age, she was swept out of the round-robin stage without earning a single point, and her unconventional moves landed flat while failing to match the skill level of her foes.
At one point, Gunn raised one leg while standing and leaned back with her arms bent toward her ears. At another, while laying on her side, she reached for her toes, flipped over and did it again in a move dubbed “the kangaroo.”
Gunn has a Ph.D. in cultural studies, and her LinkedIn page notes she is “interested in the cultural politics of breaking."
“I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best — their power moves,” said Gunn. “What I bring is creativity.”
Clips of her routine have gone viral on TikTok and elsewhere, and many cringed at her moves platformed on the Olympic stage as a representation of hip-hop and breaking culture.
“It's almost like they are mocking the genre,” wrote one user on X.
Some of it was ‘weird to see’
Many Black viewers, in particular, called out Lithuania’s silver medalist b-girl Nicka, (legally named Dominika Banevič) for donning a durag during each of her battles. Durags, once worn by enslaved Africans to tie up their hair for work, are still worn by Black people to protect and style their hair. They became a fashionable symbol of Black pride in the 1960s and 1970s and, in the 1990s and early 2000s, also became a popular element of hip-hop style. But when worn by those who aren’t Black, durags can be seen as cultural appropriation. Banevič is white.
Actor Kevin Fredericks responded on Instagram to Banevič donning the headwear by saying it looked “weird to see somebody who don’t need it for protective style or waves to be rocking the durag.”
The 17-year-old breaker ultimately won the silver medal after losing in the final to Japan's b-girl Ami (Ami Yuasa).
For her part, Banevič has credited the breakers from the 1970s in the Bronx — the OGs — or “original gangsters” in hip-hop who created the dance — for her own success and breaking style.
“It’s a huge responsibility to represent and raise the bar every time for breaking because they did an amazing job. Big respect for the OGs and the pioneers that invented all those moves. Without them, it wouldn’t be possible," she said. “Without them, breaking wouldn't be where it is today. So I'm grateful for them.”
Concerns over losing breaking's roots
The challenge for Olympic organizers was to bring breaking and hip-hop culture to a mass audience, including many viewers who were skeptical about the dance form’s addition to the Olympic roster. Others feared the subculture being co-opted by officials, commercialized and put through a rigid judging structure, when the spirit of breaking has been rooted in local communities, centered around street battles, cyphers and block parties. Hip-hop was born as a youth culture within Black and brown communities in the Bronx as a way to escape strife and socio-economic struggles and make a statement of empowerment at a time when they were labeled as lost, lawless kids by New York politicians.
Refugee breaker Manizha Talash, or “b-girl Talash,” channeled that rebellious vibe by donning a “Free Afghan Women” cape during her pre-qualifier battle — a defiant and personal statement for a 21-year-old who fled her native Afghanistan to escape Taliban rule. Talash was quickly disqualified for violating the Olympics' ban on political statements on the field of play.
Both American b-girls were eliminated in Friday’s round-robin phase, a blow to the country representing the birthplace of hip-hop in what could be the discipline’s only Games appearance. B-girl Logistx (legal name Logan Edra) and b-girl Sunny (Sunny Choi) both ranked in the top 12 internationally but came up short of the quarterfinals.
“Breaking for the Olympics has changed the way that some people are dancing,” said Choi, referring to some of the flashier moves and jam-packed routines. "Breaking changes over time. And maybe I’m just old-school and I don’t want to change. ... I think a lot of people in our community were a little bit afraid of that happening.”
Before Friday's battles began, American rapper Snoop Dogg made a grand entrance into the stadium to the soundtrack of “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” prompting cheers and dancing in the stands.
“I am hip-hop and I do know what hip-hop and break dancing is supposed to look like,” he told Vogue Magazine before the Paris Games began.
Rapper ICE T also expressed his excitement over the breaking competition before yesterday's battles.
“This is gonna blow the minds of people that haven’t seen breaking in a while,” he posted on X. “All Respect to HIPHOP.”
The b-boys take the stage on Saturday to give Olympic breaking another chance at representing the culture.
CTV News has learned there are multiple Canadian women alleging they were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the late Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be making adjustments to his cabinet today, CTV News has confirmed. The small shuffle is the result of longtime cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez quitting.
Quebec Premier François Legault is calling on the Bloc Québécois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.
The Israeli defence minister said Thursday that Hezbollah would 'pay an increasing price' as Israel seeks to make conditions near its border with Lebanon safe enough for residents to return to their homes.
A Canadian suspect was among dozens arrested around the world in a global crackdown on the encrypted communication platform, called Ghost, according to the RCMP.
A 29-year-old Quebec woman is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of a five-year-old boy southwest of Montreal.
A 64-year-old woman was preparing to do her evening dishes at her home outside Bangkok when she felt a sharp pain in her thigh and looked down to see a huge python taking hold of her.
A special ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Rome marked the successful recovery of an iconic portrait of Winston Churchill after a two-year search by Ottawa police.
Two suspects broke into a cheque-cashing business in Atlanta through the ceiling and forced an employee to open the safe, where they stole US$150K.
The mayor of an Alberta city appeared to suggest on Tuesday that residents could use inhumane tactics to deal with feral cats.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
A Canadian suspect was among dozens arrested around the world in a global crackdown on the encrypted communication platform, called Ghost, according to the RCMP.
The Alberta government will provide $149 million for Jasper's recovery from a wildfire that burned one third of its townsite, the province announced on Thursday.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called for a provincial election. Voters will go to the polls on Oct. 21, as prescribed by the province's fixed-date election law.
A special ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Rome marked the successful recovery of an iconic portrait of Winston Churchill after a two-year search by Ottawa police.
A 22-year-old woman who became an abortion rights advocate after she was raped by her stepfather as a child tells her story in a new campaign ad for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
In the quiet corners of Springfield, Ohio — out of sight of the drumbeat of politicians and journalists, troopers and newly installed security cameras — the people who live here are taking a breath, praying and attempting to carry on.
Two suspects broke into a cheque-cashing business in Atlanta through the ceiling and forced an employee to open the safe, where they stole US$150K.
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife, La'Quetta, the city's superintendent of schools, have been indicted on child endangerment and other charges for allegedly beating their teenage daughter on numerous occasions, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A Michigan police officer is being praised after she climbed into a moving vehicle to help a driver with a medical issue last week.
Democrats are stepping up their outreach to Polish Americans in this year's presidential election as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump vie for support from a community that could play a decisive role in razor-thin battleground state contests.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be making adjustments to his cabinet today, CTV News has confirmed. The small shuffle is the result of longtime cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez quitting.
Quebec Premier François Legault is calling on the Bloc Québécois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.
A federal inquiry into foreign interference is scheduled to hear today from Bloc Quebecois, Green and New Democratic Party officials.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, will donate his brain to research.
Manitobans are getting another reminder of how long wait times are for diagnostic images.
Supervised injection sites are saving the lives of drug users everyday, but the same support is not being offered to people who inhale illicit drugs, the head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says.
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
NASA scientists have successfully replicated spider-like shapes found on the surface of Mars in a laboratory setting for the first time.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, will donate his brain to research.
British actress Florence Pugh has revealed that shaving her head for her latest movie role was a 'really bizarre' experience that sent her body 'into a bit of trauma.'
MrBeast is accused of creating 'unsafe' employment conditions, including sexual harassment, and misrepresenting contestants' odds at winning his new Amazon reality show's US$5 million grand prize in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by five unnamed participants.
Lawyers for Sean "Diddy Combs asked a judge Wednesday to let him await his sex trafficking trial at his luxury home on an island near Miami Beach, rather than a grim federal jail in Brooklyn.
Maple Leaf Foods asserted its innocence in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme ahead of a hearing to determine whether it will be added to an ongoing class-action lawsuit.
TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
Trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.
Only a month after Thailand's adorable baby hippo Moo Deng was unveiled on Facebook, her fame became unstoppable.
The Michelin Guide released its 2024 restaurant selection for the Toronto region Wednesday night. Here are the four new establishments getting a Michelin star:
Matthew Tkachuk estimated that he tells a story about Johnny Gaudreau's exploits, both the on-ice and off-ice variety, to somebody at least once a week.
A soccer player who once appeared for Arsenal in the Champions League has been charged in connection with trying to smuggle cannabis worth 600,000 pounds (US$800,000) through a British airport.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, will donate his brain to research.
Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.
The plant was expected to produce batteries for a million electric vehicles a year. Once up and running, it was supposed to create hundreds of permanent jobs in a small southeastern Ontario municipality. But two years later, spending on the construction of the Umicore plant has been delayed in what the company calls a "significant worsening of the EV market context."
A Winnipeg man is asking for help after a classic car that has been a part of his family since the 1950s was stolen from his garage.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.
A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.
If you take a look to the right of Hilda Duddridge’s 100th birthday cake, you’ll see a sculpture of a smiling girl extending her arms forward.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
Police have closed Highway 1 eastbound through Langley while they investigate a crash that left a motorcyclist dead early Thursday morning.
If the lead up to British Columbia's provincial election campaign is any indication of what’s to come, voters should expect the unexpected.
Police have identified the two men killed in an early Wednesday morning shooting at a park north of Toronto. York Regional Police (YRP) say officers were called to Bayview Park, near Bayview and Lowndes avenues in Keswick, Ont., just before 7:30 a.m. for a report of shots fired.
Toronto saw a record-breaking wet summer, but September has proven to be anything but, with less than five millimetres of rain recorded this month.
Ontario ended the 2023-24 fiscal year with a nearly balanced budget, in part due to higher-than-expected revenue from international student tuition at colleges.
Calgary police are investigating the sexual assault of a young girl in Fish Creek Park.
Calgary police say speed is being investigated as a factor in a deadly two-vehicle crash on Wednesday evening.
Calgarians can mark military family appreciation day (MFAD) Friday by following in the footsteps of Lieutenant-Colonel Sandy Cooper in a stair climbing challenge called Stairs of Strength.
Ottawa is on the road to new rules to crack down on unnecessary idling in 2025, despite concerns about a lack of enforcement, insufficient education for drivers and allowing idling in school zones.
The school bus authority that covers Renfrew County and the group that represents drivers are expected to meet for the second time this month Monday, as 10,000 students remain without a ride to school.
Ontario Provincial Police are issuing a warning to be on guard against fraudsters, after an 84-year-old eastern Ontario woman had money removed from her bank account in an alleged online fraud.
Public services in Quebec are becoming dehumanized, warns Quebec Ombudsman Marc-André Dowd in his 2023-2024 annual report, which is filled with concrete examples.
Quebec Premier François Legault is calling on the Bloc Québécois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.
A 29-year-old Quebec woman is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of a five-year-old boy southwest of Montreal.
The mayor of an Alberta city appeared to suggest on Tuesday that residents could use inhumane tactics to deal with feral cats.
The Alberta government will provide $149 million for Jasper's recovery from a wildfire that burned one third of its townsite, the province announced on Thursday.
Canada's oilsands industry remains under pressure to reduce its greenhouse gas footprint, even as companies have clamped down on public communications in the wake of new anti-greenwashing legislation.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called for a provincial election. Voters will go to the polls on Oct. 21, as prescribed by the province's fixed-date election law.
Police are asking people to avoid the Dartmouth Commons area in Dartmouth, N.S., as they assist with a wildlife call for a bear.
Fourteen pharmacies in Nova Scotia will join the community pharmacy primary care clinic program this fall.
After a soggy, chaotic few days in Manitoba, more severe thunderstorms could be on the way to parts of the province on Thursday.
A Winnipeg university was evacuated Thursday morning due to a suspicious item on campus.
Manitoba's ethics commissioner has found an NDP cabinet minister was in the wrong when he failed to disclose he had a business contract with the government, but he is not recommending a penalty.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's popularity has hit a two year low, according to a recent poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute.
RCMP say officers were sent to a serious crash Wednesday night involving a semi and passenger truck about three kilometres east of Wapella, Sask.
After representing the Saskatchewan Party for a combined 33 years – two former MLAs are running as candidates for the Saskatchewan United Party (SUP) in the upcoming provincial election.
Police are hoping the public can help them locate three missing people from Kitchener.
Almost three weeks into the school year and some families are still on waitlists for before and after school care and it’s exposing some major gaps in the education system.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be making adjustments to his cabinet today, CTV News has confirmed. The small shuffle is the result of longtime cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez quitting.
Thomas Hamp says he believed secret police were out to kidnap, torture, and kill him when he fatally stabbed his girlfriend Emily Sanche in February of 2022.
A 14-year-old student who allegedly set her classmate on fire is facing a new charge.
May 9, 2022 was the day Blayne McKay thought he was going to die. He called his wife to say goodbye, after getting electrocuted at the SaskPower Island Falls Hydroelectric Station, about 100 kilometres northwest of Flin Flon.
One person is dead and another is in hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a crash involving a commercial and passenger vehicle on Highway 101 west of Timmins on Wednesday afternoon.
North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.
Remediation work at the North Bay Jack Garland Airport is set to begin in the next few weeks.
A shooting early Wednesday morning is being investigated by London police after a man showed up at hospital with gunshot wounds — the catch, police don't know where the shooting happened.
The mother and brother of an 18-year-old who was shot and killed during a teen field party more than three years ago gave emotional victim impact statements on Wednesday.
The London Children’s Museum says it will not be able to open its new site by the end of the year, as planned, unless it can come up with another $1 million.
Two men from Barrie have been charged after a deadly shooting at a park in Keswick on Wednesday.
A 49-year-old man is charged in the death of a 76-year-old woman after police were called to a residence on Highway 10 about a suspicious death in the Town of Mono on Tuesday night.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
An active investigation is underway on Ottawa Street, east of Kildare Road.
Windsor firefighters responded to a vacant building fire on Wednesday night.
The Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) has announced its lineup for this year’s festival.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
If the lead up to British Columbia's provincial election campaign is any indication of what’s to come, voters should expect the unexpected.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.
More than a year after a missing Kamloops, B.C., woman’s body was found, her son has been arrested and charged with her murder, Mounties announced Friday.
A woman suffered life-threatening injuries after being stabbed during a home invasion in Kelowna, according to authorities.
A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.
Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.
The City of Lethbridge's encampment response team continues to see a rise in the number of people experiencing homelessness throughout the summer months.
North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.
Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.
A 50-year-old man in the Sault has been charged following an assault on Saturday that involved the use of a hammer.
Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
Jim Lester’s farm hopped on the cow-cuddling trend in early August, and his time slots have been pretty well sold out ever since.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
