Breaking was in the global spotlight this weekend as it became an Olympic sport for the first time. The big winner was Japan’s B-girl Ami, who became the first Breaking champion in Olympic history. She won a closely contested battle over Lithuania’s B-girl Nicka, who brought durag energy for the silver medal

On the Men’s side, Phil Wizard’s fancy footwork, impeccable timing, and an inimitable passion for Breaking brought the first-ever gold medal to Canada. He defeated hometown hero, France’s Dany Dan, in an epic battle.

While Breaking was one of the big winners of the final weekend of the Olympics, it wasn’t without controversy. The most mystifying dancer was Raygun from Australia, who either will go down in history as one of the best trolls ever, or be totally erased from memory. The 36-year-old former ballroom dancer known as Rachel Gunn has a PhD in Cultural Studies and wrote a thesis titled Deterritorializing Gender in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene: A B-girl's Experience of B-boying. She’s got a resume to back up her inclusion into the Olympic team, but her execution was substandard in every way to the point that she may have been mocking Hip Hop and Breaking, which made a lot of people upset. In 2024, she became the meme of the day with her routine which even included the sprinkler dance, basically showing that she’s a world-class troll that knows how to get attention.

Sadly, Raygun’s antics overshadowed a lot of the performances by the women on the first day of Breaking. Luckily, the Men’s battle was extra dope and kind of righted that wrong.

The other controversy was that this “new” style of Breaking didn’t translate well with the TV audience and people who last were interested in Breaking when Beat Street and Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo were in the movie theaters. For years, Breaking has been a massive hit globally with the dancers becoming more skilled and acrobatic. Since the US invented Breaking, most people thought they should dominate, but anyone who has been paying attention to BC Ones, Freestyle Sessions, and Battle of the Years knows that Breaking is massive globally, especially in Asia. People were even mentioning that they see dancers on the trains better than these dancers, which is just like saying some kid on the street should be in the Olympics because he can shoot threes better than Steph Curry at the local rec center.

Breaking will always be followed by heads, haters, and half-timers, but the inclusion of street dancing is a huge win for Hip Hop all around the world. At the Closing Ceremonies, five B-boys got together and in an unscripted moment, made the Olympic rings in the confetti. This perfectly encapsulated what the Olympic spirit and Breaking is all about.

Check out the B-Boys below.