Australia's first Olympic breakers will make history. Here's what to know about the sport

Key Points

Breaking is making its Olympics debut.
Australians Rachael Gunn and Jeff Dunne will represent their country at the Paris Games.
Breakers start with three battles in the group stages.

and Jeff Dunne are set to make history as the first Australians to compete in breaking, also called breakdancing, at the Olympics.

The street dance style originated in the US in the 1970s and has made its way to the top global sporting arena, but how will the competition actually work?

How does the breaking rounds system work?

Breakers — also known as b-boys and b-girls— compete in battles that consist of three rounds, with one opponent.

There will be a group stage with three battles, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and the gold medal match.

Rachael Gunn has a PhD in breakdancing and dance culture and is a university lecturer. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts

The gold medallist will have had to win six battles, and would have competed in an exhausting 18 rounds.

Gunn told SBS News the breakers don’t know the music they’ll be dancing to, and much of their routine can be improvised.

What do breaking judges look for?

Gunn said: “The judges are comparing round for round who was stronger across five criteria.

“They are execution, technique, vocabulary, so your range of movement, musicality, how well you’re responding to that track, the rhythms, the textures of that track. The final one is originality — what new moves or variations or innovations you’re bringing to the dance and maybe your performativity and your character on stage as well,” she said.

How does the scoring work?

The round winner doesn’t have to win in all criteria, it’s automatically added up to a total number and whoever has the highest wins.

However, participants don’t get to see their full score breakdown.

“What that means is it can look like a battle is really close or it can look like a battle is not close at all, but the judging kind of doesn’t indicate, doesn’t explain that clearly,” Gunn said.

Whoever wins the most rounds wins the battle.

Gunn said the amount of rounds held on one day is totally unheard of in breaking.

“They’ve really kind of lifted the expectations. So it’s really going to be those people that can dig deep and are doing something pretty”.

What else is happening on day 14 at the Paris Olympics?

Following another successful day at the Paris Games, Australian athletes are set to compete in beach volleyball, artistic swimming, athletics, track cycling and basketball.

Australia’s Nicholas Sloman finished in 11th in the marathon swim, with Kyle Lee only a fraction of a second behind him in 13th place.

On day 13, Moesha Johnson took silver in the women’s 10k marathon swim, while Charlie Senior and Caitlin Parker collected rare Olympic boxing medals for Australia.

Beach volleyball

Australian female beach volleyball stars Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Teliqua Clancy will fight for bronze against Switzerland at 5.00am AEST after losing to Brazil in their semi-final.

The veteran pair won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but lost a three-set thriller against Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on day 13.

“Down to the final four, every team is good so it’s just those little moments and unfortunately, they didn’t turn in our way at times,” said 32-year-old Clancy.

“It’s the beauty of the sport though, you can play the best f—king game of your life and you still lose.”

Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy will play for bronze. Source: Getty / Michael Reaves

Diving

Maddison Keeny is Australia’s best chance at an Olympic diving medal after making the women’s 3m springboard final, which will start at 11pm AEST.

Keeney competed in the 2016 Games in Rio, coming fifth in the individual and third in the synchronised 3m springboard.

The 28-year-old got better and better in the morning’s semi-final at the Paris Aquatics Centre, nailing her final three dives after a slow start. Keeney was a clear second but still well behind Chinese standout, Chen Yiwen.

Australia’s Maddison Keeney had a strong showing in the semi-final, coming second to China’s Chen Yiwen. Source: AAP / Lee Jin-man/AP

Cycling

Australia’s Matt Richardson takes on the Netherlands’ Jeffrey Hoogland in the sprint semi-finals.

Basketball

The Opals will try to make history in a showdown with the US in the women’s basketball semi-final at 1.30am AEST. Australian forward Alanna Smith declared it’s time to “take them down a peg”.

Other events

The men’s football final between Olympic hosts France and Spain will kick off at 2.00am AEST. France will be looking to win their first Olympic title in 40 years, while Spain will try to go one better on their Tokyo silver.

Algeria’s Imane Khelif will be looking to silence her haters by winning Olympic gold in her women’s welterweight boxing final against China’s Yang Liu at 6.51am AEST.

Defending Olympic champions the Netherlands will be looking to go back-to-back against China in the women’s hockey final at 4.00 am AEST.