Mark Zeigler: B-boys and B-girls spin into -- and promptly out of -- Olympic orbit

PARIS — The B-girls were spinning on their heads.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was spinning in his grave.

The founder of the modern Olympics couldn’t have imagined what transpired Friday at Place de la Concorde in his beloved Paris. The temporary 3×3 basketball stadium was converted to a performance venue for breaking, the newest sport on the Summer Games program, with a circular dance floor, two rapping emcees, tables with nine judges and, above them, two DJs spinning hip-hop tunes.

There were hyped, boxing-like introductions for the “battles,” as head-to-head breaking competitions are called. The B-girls went by nicknames — Logistx, Syssy, Anti, Raygun, Nicka, 671 — that also appear atop their official Olympic bios. (The 18-year-old Chinese woman who won the bronze medal is listed on the media information system as merely 671, and you have dig deep into her bio to learn her “passport name” is Liu Qingyi.)

They taunted each other before and during battles, then hugged afterward.

U.S. B-girl Sunny was facing India, who is actually from the Netherlands, and pretended to yank off her head, then shot put it into the stands. And then lost 18-0.

India from the Netherlands didn’t seem too perturbed. “It was a good photo moment,” she said later.

Breaking, originally called breakdancing, was invented in the 1970s in New York City’s South Bronx and popularized in the 1980s, with dancers performing various moves while spinning on the ground. It was added to the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Argentina, then to the full Summer Games by Paris organizers with the blessing of the International Olympic Committee.

“I love and I appreciate the work that everyone has done, and the compromise that’s happened,” said 21-year-old Logistx, who grew up in Chula Vista, Calif., as Logan Edra. “Throughout the journey, it’s gotten so much better. The (Olympic) qualifiers in the beginning, I did not enjoy at all. There was just no vibe when I went to those qualifiers, but it got so much better.

“It’s been a messy process, a roller coaster up and down. I’m just so happy what everyone fought for in this journey. I felt like the culture pulled through.”

There are B-girl and B-boy competitions here, with 16 athletes each. You have three round-robin battles, followed by single-elimination quarterfinals, semifinals and final. Battles have two rounds, lasting only a few minutes. Breakers are judged on technique, variety, execution, musical interpretation and originality. Get five of the nine judges’ votes, and you win the round.

You don’t know the music before the DJ drops the beat. If you don’t like it, you pretend it’s exactly what you hoped for.

“It happens a lot,” Kate of Ukraine admitted. “You have to fake the fun. If you know the rhythm, you’re like, ‘Yes, finally.’ ”

This was breaking’s Olympic debut … and its farewell. The Los Angeles organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics opted against including it. And the 2032 Games are in Brisbane, Australia, where breaking is not widely popular.

“It’s such a big opportunity and big platform, and I’m just happy that we’re here,” Edra said. “I’m really sad that it’s not in LA28, but I feel like we’re beyond it, you know what I mean? … Not everyone wants to do the traditional sports. I’m not going to say that’s for a certain type of person, but I will say hip-hop is something special and something that the world needs, that kids need.”

The 5-foot-1 Edra won her first battle 2-0 against Raygun of Australia, lost 2-0 against eventual silver medalist Nicka of Lithuania and then tied France’s Syssy 1-1. Only two advance from each round-robin group to the quarterfinals, and Syssy narrowly edged Edra for the second spot.

She originally planned to represent the Philippines to honor her heritage but was sidetracked by “political drama” and joined Team USA.

“I will say this confidently,” Edra said. “I still feel I’m the best B-girl in U.S. It’s no disrespect to anyone else. I’m just being very honest and truthful with myself. If someone wants to talk (smack), go ahead. Say it to my face.”

Edra will be fine without the Olympics. She is a professional hip-hop dancer with sponsorships from Red Bull and Nike, as well as an instructor at a dance studio in Miami.

But will breaking survive?

“It was disappointing it was decided that it wasn’t going to be in LA, particularly before we’d even had a chance to show it,” said Australia’s Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, a 36-year-old lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney who has a PhD in cultural studies. “That was possibly a little premature. I wonder if they’re kicking themselves now, particularly because they have some great American breakers.

“It was disappointing, but it’s not the end for breaking. The breaking culture is so strong. We’ve got competitions outside of this. We’ll just keep on going.”

The lingering question, of course, is whether it qualifies as sport. Whether the gold awarded to Japan’s Ami on Friday tarnishes those by athletes in traditional Olympic events.

“What is an Olympics sport?” Gunn said. “It’s so broad here. What are the similarities between (equestrian) dressage and artistic swimming and the 100-meter sprint and the pentathlon? Breaking is clearly athletic, it clearly requires a whole level of dedication across a whole number of aspects.

“I feel like it meets that criteria. And it’s really bringing a new level of excitement.”