Jeffrey ‘Jeff’ Dunne: Tweed teen fundraising to represent Australia in breaking, or break dancing, at Paris Olympics

A 16-year-old northern NSW boy is set to represent the nation in breaking, or break dancing, at the Olympics – but government support for the growing sport is scarce. Here’s Jeff’s story.

A high school student from northern NSW has qualified for the Olympics in breaking – or breakdancing – but he needs the community’s support to achieve his dreams.

Tweed Heads 16-year-old Jeffrey ‘Jeff’ Dunne found out he would be packing his bags for Paris when he won the Oceania Breaking Championship in October.

For the first time, breaking has been added to the Olympics due to its rapid rise in popularity.

Jeff Dunne in flight.

Jeff’s love of the sport started when he watched his older sister’s dance classes in Brisbane.

“Every week I would go sit down and watch until I started trying the moves,” he said.

Fast forward and Jeff has competed around the world.

He trains for four to six hours each day, while remaining at school.

“There are days when I have to push past my limits and the voices in my head, and it’s hard to balance with school – but I reckon I can do it,” he said.

Jeff looks up to his coaches at Nerang on the Gold Coast, as well as the sport’s “B-boys” and girls worldwide, including Victor from the US, Lee from the Netherlands and Denmark’s Zoopreme.

Jeff Dunne at a breaking (break dancing) competition.

Jeff described the Championships in which he qualified as “intense”. He even enlisted the help of a sports psychologist to overcome nerves.

“He told me to be in the present … and remind myself that it is meant to be fun and I shouldn’t feel like I’m being forced,” Jeff said.

The Tweed boy sailed through the competition, winning 25 of 27 votes up for grabs.

Jeff Dunne after qualifying for the Olympics.

“I was training no stop and I had this mentality of ‘I’m going to win’,” he said.

“(And) travelling to all these overseas competitions on the world stage helped me become very battle ready … I knew what I had to do”.

But the travelling and training comes at a hefty cost, with minority sports like breaking receiving little government funding.

Jeff’s mum Rhondda Dunne said: “It’s hard for minority sports because even though there is a lot of funding for sports (we are) not seeing any of it, even though he has qualified for the Olympics,” she said.

Jeff’s breaking success comes at a heavy cost.

“He needs to go overseas because he needs to be on world stages to understand how they work.

“We have spent a lot of money over the past 18 months … (and) we can’t keep running this treadmill”.

Jeff said he was nervous about the Olympics but also “super pumped”.

“I’m just going to remember that this also everyone else’s first time dancing at the Olympics,” he said.

To raise money for Paris, Jeff and his family have set up a GoFundMe page.