Why the viral Olympic flop “Raygun” secured first place in the world breaking news rankings

Good morning, I'm Dan Gartland. A pitcher I've never heard of threw one of the best games of the season on Tuesday evening.

In today’s SI:AM:

🟠 Deshaun Watson's contract
🏈 The Steelers’ quarterback situation
🧀 No playoffs for the Packers?

Anyone who followed the breakdancing competition at the Paris Olympics this summer was probably shocked when the sport's governing body released its updated world rankings on Tuesday, with the much-maligned “Raygun” taking first place.

Rachael Gunn, a 37-year-old Australian university lecturer known in the sport as B-Girl Raygun, went viral for all the wrong reasons during the Paris Games. She not scored a single point during the first breakdancing competition at the Olympic Games and was widely ridiculed for executing moves that paled in comparison to those of her competitors.

Despite this performance, Gunn secured first place in the new world rankings published by the World DanceSport Federation on Tuesday. This development inevitably caused a stir and the WDSF was forced to make a statement and explains how she reached the top spot.

Competitors receive points for their performances at WDSF-sanctioned competitions and the rankings are based on the points athletes earned in their four best competitions in the previous calendar year. Gunn's ranking is based on her win at the Oceania Continental Championships in October 2023, which earned her 1,000 ranking points. Japanese B-girl Riko also received 1,000 points for winning a World Series event in Hong Kong in December 2023, but Gunn won the tiebreaker because WDSF rules state that Continental Championships take precedence over World Series events.

The other main reason for the questionable rankings is that they are based on a limited number of events. They do not include results from the two Olympic qualifying tournaments that took place in May and June this year, nor from the Olympic Games. Most importantly, the WDSF has not held any ranking tournaments since the beginning of 2024 so as not to interfere with the Olympic Games.

“This strategic planning allowed athletes to focus exclusively on the final part of their Olympic qualification without the added pressure of additional ranking competitions,” the association said. “As a result, by the end of the Olympic Games, many of the competition results included in the ranking had expired, leading to the current situation where for many athletes only one competition result counts towards the ranking.”

The rankings also don't present an optimal picture of the sport, as many breakers don't compete in WDSF events. The federation only began sponsoring world championships in breaking in 2019, a year before the IOC announced the sport would be included in the Paris Games and a year after it debuted at the Youth Olympic Games. Breaking originated in New York City more than 40 years ago, and there are several organizations that sponsor competitions. One of the largest and longest-running is the Red Bull BC One, which was first held in 2004.

Many breakers only competed in WDSF events to qualify for the Olympics. None of the six medalists from Paris have points in the WDSF world rankings. Zack Slusser, the vice president of Breaking for Gold USA, to Associated Press that the breakers had “no incentive, no desire” to take part in WDSF events that were not about Olympic qualification.

“Because they are not cultural events,” Slusser explained. “They are not fun.”

The fragmented nature of competitive breaking makes it impossible to compile an accurate ranking of the best breakers in the world. Nothing makes that clearer than seeing Gunn, one of the most memorable and inept Olympic athletes in recent history, at the top of the list. But Gunn won't stay at the top for much longer. Her 1,000 world ranking points from winning the Oceania Championships expire on October 28, and the WDSF will hold its first ranking event in 10 months starting October 19. Then the world will have a new No. 1 breaker. At least in the eyes of the WDSF.

…moments in baseball last night:

5. Some funny moments from the Mets. Pete Alonso pretended to storm the hill after being hit by a pitch from his former teammate Chris Bassitt and Jesse Winker teased Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after a replay confirmed that Winker had ejected Vladdy.
4. Kyle Schwarbers 14. Homerun first of the season, setting a new MLB record.
3. Manny Machado's home run to break Nate Colbert's Padres franchise record.
2. Daz Cameron's sliding catch for the last out in the 11th inning. Cameron's A's beat the Astros in 12.
1. Pete Crow-Armstrong's Homerun robbery for the last out in the Cubs' victory over the Dodgers.