At its core, breaking is an art form: it is fluid, incredibly diverse, and is very subjective. Breaking shouldn’t be a part of the Olympics for the same reason competitive painting shouldn’t. To judge or try to quantify the intricacies of breaking is to take away some of the aspects that make breaking what it is.
The question of why breaking, sometimes incorrectly referred to as breakdancing, was included in the 2024 Olympics, and whether it should continue to be part of the Olympics in the future, was asked around the world after a video clip of Australian breaker Racheal Gunn went viral for her, to put it lightly, unique and creative style. It’s worth noting that she received a 0 for her performance and has since apologized according to BBC News. While I vehemently disagree with the public shaming of any athlete, breaking should not be a part of the Olympics.
Most sports enter the Olympics with little to no changes to their scoring or points systems. Sports like the pole vault or soccer have always had simple metrics to tell which team won. Even gymnastics, which is considered by many to be arbitrary, has a rulebook and established scores for each individual move a gymnast competes. According to Wired, breaking has no official rulebook or scorecard; the Paris games were judged by a slider that could go towards one of the b-boys/b-girls (the terms for the men and women who compete). Because of this, it’s not hard to see how subjective judging could be. With nothing to base judgments on but broad categories, such as “originality,” judges cannot help but give drastically varying scores to competitors.
The inconsistent nature of breaking judging can be seen in daily life. If two people are asked to rate how good a movie was on a scale of 1-10, even if they agree on how good it is, numbered ratings are still lacking in objectivity. Even if it is a quantifiable ranking, each person will still have their own criteria for what ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is and what a 1/10 or a 10/10 movie is.
Adding a sport like breaking into the Olympics puts constraints on the competitors and judges. Olympic sports must be standardized and rigid so that disputes do not arise from countries thinking the judges are biased. According to NPR’s Planet Money, breaking competitions have historically been judged by a panel of fellow male and female breakers who simply point at who they think won the battle with no explanation or reasoning given.
The Red Bull BC One, arguably the biggest breakdancing competition in the world, is a perfect example of breaking’s arbitrary judging. The annual competition, which pits 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls against each other to crown a world champion, is judged by a panel of 5 who, one after the other, stand up and display a card with one of the b-boy/girls’ names on it.
No, breaking should not be a part of the Olympics; instead, we should try to recognize places where breaking shines. Breaking involves talent and creativity and incredible feats of athletics, and it just can’t be summed up in a single number or score. Breaking, and all other sports like it that have emerged outside of the traditional culture of larger international competitions, should be given all of the attention that the Olympics get, but on their own competition and global stages.