Australian breaker Rachael “Raygun” Gunn holds the highest spot in her sport’s newest world rankings regardless of Olympic performances that led to on-line ridicule and abuse.
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 stated the rating methodology relies on every athlete’s prime 4 performances throughout the previous 12 months – however excludes Olympic occasions together with the Paris Video games and Olympic qualifier sequence occasions in Shanghai and Budapest.
Moreover, no rating occasions have been held between December 2023 and the Olympics – to permit athletes to deal with qualification.
The federation clarified that the weird 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 throughout the breaking neighborhood 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 don’t have any actual advantage with the breakers or the breaking neighborhood,” stated Zack Slusser, vp of Breaking for Gold USA. “They usually additionally haven’t been in a position to organise occasions by their measure that may contribute to creating an correct world rating.”
In response to 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 need to even proceed taking part with the WDSF after that,” Slusser stated. “As a result of they’re not cultural occasions. They don’t seem to be fulfilling.”
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’s concerning the vibe, it’s concerning the neighborhood”.
The WDSF stated rankings will change as soon as extra occasions happen, beginning with the Breaking for Gold World Collection in Shanghai in October.
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