From Phil Wizard to Raygun, breaking is bigger than ever. Is that a good thing?

At the Paris Olympics, breaking entered as arguably the most exciting new event in decades: an art form sprung from the hip-hop culture of the Bronx, set to take the biggest international sports stage in the world. 

One Canadian gold medal, more than a few headspins and seemingly millions of memes later, the hype has done anything but fade. And although the sport won't be at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, the campaign for a return in 2032 is ongoing. 

So was breaking's Olympic debut a success? That depends on whom you ask. Outside spectators may have seen the gold-medal win of Vancouver's Phil (Wizard) Kim as a high point for the sport, while the performance of Australian dancer Rachael Gunn, or Raygun, may have been a low point, after it was widely ridiculed online.

But many breakers told CBC that this view misses the point. For them, bringing breaking to the Paris stage wasn't just about finding the best in the world. It was also to internationalize and legitimize the dance — bringing it to different locales, and giving newer, less experienced people a reason to pay attention and cheer.

Breaking, sometimes incorrectly called "breakdancing," is an acrobatic and improvisational dance style popularized by Black and Latino communities in 1970s New York.

While its inclusion in the 2024 Olympics was a long time coming, it's far from its first incursion into the mainstream. It was part of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, and was also added to the 2023 Pan American Games, which operated as a qualifier for Paris. 

Antonio Castillo, a U.S. breaker, helped advocate for the sport to be included in the Olympics, and is now working to have it return. 

Seeing its debut live in Paris was the culmination of an incredible amount of