A Macquarie University lecturer has emerged as a contender for the Olympics as a breakdancer

The double life of a Macquarie University lecturer has been exposed following breakdancing gaining Olympic status. And her students are going to love it.

It’s official: Breakdancing is now an Olympic sport and will appear for the first time at Paris 2024.

Initially, we were going to lead off with a gag about grabbing your boombox and square of cardboard.

After all, breakdancing at the 2024 Olympics?

C’mon, man.

But then, well, you go and speak with Dr Rachael Gunn.

A Macquarie University lecturer who when not teaching students in Media and Creative Industries, is training to keep her ranking as Australia’s No. 1 female breaker — or bgirl.

Competing under the alias ‘Raygun’, the 33-year-old has welcomed the surprising — and somewhat divisive — news that “breaking” is set to become the world’s newest Olympic sport.

“Changed my whole life,” Gunn says of the athletic dance that rose out of the Bronx some 50 years ago.

“And while 2024 is still a long way away, I’ll be doing my best to be there.”

Rachael Gunn, aka “Raygun” after the announcement that breakdancing or “breaking” will be an Olympic sport in 2024. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Same deal Jacob Goodridge, aka bboy Monsta.

A Newcastle product who started out in rugby league with Valentine, played ice hockey for NSW, and now resides in Brisbane as the nation’s No. 1 bboy.

Quizzed on the news that breaking will be contested at Paris 2024, Goodridge said he hoped the decision would help educate people on not only the dance style but also the athletic demands required in competition, or battles.

“I’ve already seen a lot negative comments by people online,” Monsta said of the Olympic decision, which follows surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing and being added to the program for next year’s Tokyo Games.

“But people saying how it’s all a joke, that’s crazy.

Gunn says breakdancing changed her whole life.

Gunn could be at Paris in 2024. Pictures: Sam Ruttyn

“Breaking really parallels gymnastics — but it’s harder.

“One, our moves are more strenuous on joints. But we also (compete) to music.

“And when you go into a battle, you don’t know what music is going to be played.

“So you’re not only coming up with these really hard technical moves, but you’re doing it on the fly and to a rhythm.”

At 185cm, Goodridge is one of the tallest breakers anywhere on earth.

Among the heaviest too at 94kg.

Gunn trains up to three hours a day.

Yet in between overseeing his three small businesses — which includes running an online marketing campaign for Red Bull — this elite athlete also pushes through a variety of daily strength and conditioning sessions.

Apart from doing push ups in lots of 100, ‘Monsta’ can also complete up to 30 repetitions of a bboy push up — or effectively a handstand press with one arm.

Gunn, meanwhile, also trains for up to three hours a day.

“Because breaking, it really is a whole of body sport,” said the lecturer who has also completed a PhD in the subject.

“It’s not just about strength, or conditioning but also flexibility … some days I’ll spend up to two hours stretching.”

Currently, there are around 400 active breaking competitors in Australia.

“But with this news, I wouldn’t be surprised if new ones come from everywhere,” says Lowe Napalan, president of the Australian Breakdancing Association.

The ABA boss added that while breaking was initially about culture and art, he welcomed its “reinvention” as an Olympic sport where Japan and Russia will be considered the biggest threats.

“But there’s also the USA, France, a lot of European countries,” he says.

“And Australia has real potential too.

“We would definitely be in the running for medals.”

GIVE US A BREAK: NEW OLYMPIC SPORT STUNS WORLD

Breakdancing was one of four new sports along with skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing to get the Olympic green light on Monday for inclusion at the 2024 Paris Games.

The four sports were included as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board met to confirm the Paris 2024 program.

Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing have already been added to the program for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will take place in 2021 after being postponed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The introduction of breaking was “one of the results of the Olympic Agenda 2020”, Bach said.

The IOC hopes the introduction of sports such as breakdancing, surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding will attract a younger audience.

“We had a clear priority to introduce sports (that are) particularly popular among the younger generation and taking into consideration the urbanisation of sport.”

Breakdancing, which grew up alongside hip hop in the South Bronx of New York in the 1970s and is officially known in sport terms as “breaking”, appeared at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, in the form of head-to-head “battles”.

Russia’s Sergei Chernyshev, competing under the nickname Bumblebee, won the first breakdancing gold medal for boys in that event, while Japan’s Ramu Kawai won the girls’ title.

The inclusion of the four new sports has come at the expense of weightlifting and boxing categories.

“Today is a historic occasion not only for b-boys and b-girls but for all dancers around the world,” said Shawn Tay, president of the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF).

“The WDSF could not be prouder to have breaking included at Paris 2024 … It was a true team effort to get to this moment and we will redouble our efforts in the lead-up to the Olympic Games to make sure the breaking competition at Paris 2024 will be unforgettable.”

PARIS PODIUMS DOWN TO 329

Federations of sports that already have Olympic status were left disappointed in their bid to increase events within their sports as IOC president Thomas Bach said that none of the proposed 41 events would be included in Paris.

While some sports substituted in some events within their existing event numbers, Bach said medal events had actually gone down from 339 to 329.

He said the athletes’ quota for Paris had been fixed at 10,500, including those participating in the four new sports.

That represents a decrease of 600 from Tokyo Games, while gender equality would be attained for the first time in Olympic history in Paris.

The question of gender equality led to the demise of the men’s 50km race walk, which first appeared at the 1932 Olympics.

IOC sports director Kit McConnell said the event would be replaced by a “mixed gender event”.

There was a decision to “reach gender equality by removing the men’s 50km race walk”, rather than introducing a women’s version, McConnell said, adding that the men and women’s 20km race walks would remain.

The replacement event will not, however, be a mixed cross-country, which World Athletics had been pushing hard for.

“The event had to fit into an existing Olympic venue,” McConnell said, explaining that a potential re-fit of the equestrian or mountain-bike venues to accommodate a cross-country was shown to be “too expensive and complex”.