I am really trying here, ok?
I am really trying here, ok?
GIF of the breakdancing lady at the olympics with the caption "Me explaining mass spectrometry"
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Not pointed at you OP, but it kind of pisses me off how this lady got more attention than the actual breakers and medalists the Olympics.
Don't be.
I who don't care for sport at all, am now aware more about breaking then I would be; I saw some other matches 100% because of her actions. I would not have bothered otherwise.
She brings more interest to the sport; I only saw three events, the rock climbing (I climb); some of the kayak (kayak cross is awesome) and some of the breaking.
So there you have it; of the very small amount of the Olympics I watched, breaking was part of it.
I had a whole argument with a bud about her PhD in breakdancing.
My take was that she pushed breakdancing into the human consciousness significantly more than anyone in history ever has so she deserves that PhD, very few people know the name of the person who won the gold but a ton more remember raygun or at the very least 'that breakdancing lady'. Regardless of how skillfull she actually is. Also, iirc she was actually a classical dance teacher at that school and this was just in response to the Olympics adding breakdancing, I watched an interview where she said something along the lines of 'I didn't even care for breakdancing'.
My take was that she pushed breakdancing into the human consciousness significantly more than anyone in history ever has
Interesting thought exercise, but a WILD take. Notoriety shouldn't be considered the same as actual accomplishment. Otherwise, John Wayne Gacy should be considered the best clown of all time.
Phil Kim/Phil Wizard (the gold medalist) is a pretty accomplished breaker/bboy.
I agree that notoriety shouldn't necessarily be considered the same as accomplishment but here we are lul. I'm willing to bet she's inadvertently pushed breakdancing people to greater hights inspite of/to spite her lul. Yea Phil is great.
Reminds me of poreotix in ABDC. Except they were good lul.
What's your take on the judges not awarding points for originality? I'm not saying her moves were good but they were definitely original. Some of her moves nobody else did at the Olympics at all. I would have guessed she should at least get a couple of points for that, it honestly made me lose respect for those judges. What's the point of having categories you score on if you're gonna let other categories influence the score you give on certain ones.
No, I think the score of 0 is fair, because imo her Olympics performance was straight up trolling. If you watch any of her previous performances (like her Olympic qualifiers) she's actually pretty decent. Comparing those to what she did at the Olympics honestly felt like BM to the entire artform.
And your comment is why I lost respect for those judges who probably agree with you.
You're letting her previous performances color your opinion of what should be a fair and unbiased judging of this one performance and this one category in a vacuum. It's originality, she was more original in her performance than a lot of other breakers, regardless of her skill (which is a separate category they rate on). I would have hoped she would have scored at least a couple of points there and just 0s on all the other categories.
I agree with your BM comment though.
But it is not about originality.
People watch the Olympics to see peak humans perform amazing feats of athleticism. It is a competition of the ages spread over all countries.
If someone performs something every regular person would be capable of, especially on purpose, it mocks the sport and the Olympic competition in general.
Sorry to break it to you but it factually IS about originality. That's one of the categories the judges for this sport specifically rate on according to the olympics, or should at least, it's obvious they didn't in this instance.
Here's some sites that specify originality is one of their 5 scoring categories.
Mm, you're not wrong about the originality, especially considering it's given equal weight with the other four categories (the scoring is another issue here I could go on about). I guess in the judges eyes her "original" moves didn't have anything to do with breaking (like the T-rex thing? That was odd...), so it was irrelevant to the judgement.
I can only speak for my own interpretations though.
In 1971, Rep. Tom Moore, Jr. of Waco, Texas sponsored a resolution commending Albert de Salvo for his unselfish service to "his county, his state and his community." That resolution read, in part:
This compassionate gentleman's dedication and devotion to his work has enabled the weak and the lonely throughout the nation to achieve and maintain a new degree of concern for their future. He has been officially recognized by the state of Massachusetts for his noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology.
Otherwise, John Wayne Gacy should be considered the best clown of all time.
And that is a WILD comparison!
What pisses me off is the break dancing is considered an Olympic sport.
Eh, painting and chess used to be Olympic sports. Shooting/air rifle still is. Break dancing requires more physicality than all of those.
I don't particularly care about gatekeeping what activities are added/subtracted to the Olympics, as long as it's competitive and entertaining to watch.
Shooting/air rifle still is.
What's wrong with that lmao
Nothing, that's what I'm trying to say. All the "sports" I listed have some sort of skill expression that can be judged. Why is break dancing less worthy? Should skateboarding also not have been included? Why is making a horse hop around to music considered a "real sport"?
It's all arbitrary.
With the amount of physical activity needed, it can hardly be seen as a sport, let alone an Olympic one.
This is a stupid opinion. Go try competitive shooting and tell me how you do.
Try shooting a high quality air rifle.
Why do you care?
It exemplifies everything wrong with the modern corrupt Olympics committee.
Pandering to whoever can bribe them the most and threatening those who won't cosy up to them, even long established sports that have been in the Olympics since the Greeks.
fair enough!
Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Seriously though she's shocking. Going into the Olympics with no one but herself and her message in mind
I respect it. We think of the Olympics as this Grand international unity thing, but it's not. It's a for profit entertainment company
It's not the best in the world, it's hundreds of feeder organizations that submitted the paperwork, and the people they chose to select
No one had submitted paperwork for Australian breakdancing... So she and her husband did
It's art - intentional or not. Skilled or not (it was not). I don't even know what county won breakdancing... But that couple made an impact on the world, undoubtedly. I could do some of her moves and anyone would instantly recognize it
Which just shows how stupid the whole circus is.