Raygun's farcical rise to World No.1 explained as breakdancing's governing body speaks out

The World Dance Sport Federation has moved to explain the latest breakdancing world rankings, which have Australia's Raygun at No.1 despite her flop at the Paris Olympics. In a statement provided to Yahoo Sport Australia, the WDSF has revealed the Olympics don't count towards the official world rankings, and neither do two of the Olympic Qualifier Series.

Fans around the world were shocked to learn that Raygun (real name Rachael Gunn) had been elevated to World No.1 in the WDSF breakdancing rankings this week, despite failing to score a single point in her three battles at the Olympics. Raygun copped global ridicule for her efforts in Paris, in which she tried to be as original as possible because she knew she couldn't match it with some of her opponents.

But the situation took a comical new twist this week when Raygun's name appeared at World No.1 in the official breakdancing rankings. In a statement provided to Yahoo Sport Australia, the WDSF said the rankings are based on each athlete’s top four performances in a 12-month period, with points only valid for 52 weeks. Once that 12-month period expires the points drop off an athlete's ranking.

The WDSF stated that none of The Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai in May, the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest in June, or the Olympic Games in Paris in August, count towards the official rankings because of "limited athlete quotas". This is due to the fact the Olympics requires a certain number of athletes from each country and continent to participate. A spokesperson said: "The Olympic quota allocation system is a program designed to limit the number of athletes participating and prevent a small number of countries from dominating the field of an Olympic event."

Raygun got 1000 points by winning Oceania championships

The WDSF also revealed that ranking events were "intentionally not held between 31 December 2023 and the Olympic Games" to "allow athletes to focus solely on the last part of their Olympic qualification without the added pressure of additional ranking events. Consequently, by the end of the Olympic Games, many of the competition results included in the ranking had expired, leading to the current situation where many athletes have only one competition result contributing to their ranking."

The organising body also stated that "the world rankings as they currently stand should be interpreted in conjunction with results from recent global Breaking competitions for a more accurate reflection of the global competitive landscape." They added: "Due the unique circumstances regarding ranking events this year, it is not unusual in the period immediately following the Olympic Games for some athletes to be ranked according to a single event."

Essentially, the world rankings as they currently stand are a result of two events - The WDSF Oceania championships (held in October of 2023), and the WDSF Hong Kong World Series (held in December of 2023). Because Raygun won the Oceania championships (against just 14 other breakers) she was awarded 1000 points, which has seen her catapult to World No.1.

B-Girl Riko from Japan also has 1000 points from winning the Hong Kong Series, but is second behind Raygun because the Oceania championships hold more weight in the rankings. "Raygun’s result from the Continental Championship takes precedence according to Article 5.1.1 of the WDSF Breaking Rules and Regulations Manual (BRRM), which explains her higher ranking compared to B-Girl Riko," the WDSF said.

World's leading breakdancers aren't in the current rankings

The situation sums up the farcical way in which breakdancing has been organised and run in the lead-up to the Olympics. According to reports, a number of the leading breakdancers in the world stopped participating in rankings events once they'd qualified for the Olympics. However they weren't informed until just weeks before the Paris Games that world ranking would determine seeding at the Olympics.

B-girl Ami, who won the gold medal in Paris, stopped taking part in rankings events after the Asian continental championships in July of 2023, meaning she doesn't even appear in the latest rankings because that was over 12 months ago. B-Girl Nicka won silver at the Olympics and won the world championships in 2023, but is also missing from the current rankings.

According to journalist Alan Abrahamson, who has been highly critical of the governance involved with running breakdancing and its Olympics entry, an email has been "making the rounds in certain breaking circles" that reads: “Literally, it’s a joke. A last-place person at the Olympics ranked first in their world ranking system signifies a broken sport organisation and system. You do not see this in any [other] sports."

The situation should be rectified once rankings events continue later this year. And Raygun has revealed she'll be taking a break from the sport, meaning she'll drop out of the No.1 spot quite soon.