Australian breaker Rachel “RaeGun” Gunn remains number one in the sport's latest world rankings, despite her Olympic performance drawing online ridicule and criticism.
On Tuesday, the sport's governing body released a statement “clarifying” why Reagan had risen to the top of the rankings.
Reighan, a 37-year-old university lecturer from Sydney, failed to score at the Paris Olympics for a routine that included the “kangaroo” dance.
The World DanceSport Federation said its ranking methodology was based on each athlete's best four performances from the previous 12 months, but excluded Olympic competitions, including the Paris Games, and the Olympic Qualification Series events in Shanghai and Budapest.
Additionally, no ranking events were held between December 2023 and the Olympics to allow athletes to focus on qualifying.
The federation said the unusual circumstances of this year's competition schedule meant many athletes were ranked based on a single event. In Reagan's case, she earned 1,000 points for winning the Oceania Continental Championships in October 2023.
Many in the breaking community have criticised the rankings, saying they do not clearly represent breaking as a sport and as a culture.
“When it comes to the WDSF, they really don't provide any value to breakers or the breaking community,” said Zach Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA, “and they fail to produce events to their own standards that contribute to creating accurate world rankings.”
Slusser said the breakers had only competed in events organised by the Lausanne-based governing body of competitive dancesport, the WDSF, in order to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
“The Breakers had no motivation or desire to continue participating in the WDSF after that because it's not a cultural event. It's not fun,” Slusser said.
In contrast, Slusser points out that international breaking competitions like the Red Bull BC One Championships are “like a festival for breakers. It's about the atmosphere and the community.”
The WDSF said the rankings would change once further events are held, starting with the Breaking for Gold World Series in Shanghai in October.
