Breakdancerin
Her Olympic appearance caused ridicule, and now Raygun is ending her career
With her appearance at the Olympic Games, Rachael “Raygun” Gunn became an internet hit – and the laughing stock of many people. Now the breakdancer is drawing conclusions.
It was perhaps the strangest appearance at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer. In the breakdancing competitions that were held for the first time, Australian Rachael Gunn caused a stir when she was eliminated in the first round without a single point. The breaker known as Raygun rolled around on the floor and jumped around the ring like a kangaroo. But that’s over now, Raygun announced on the Australian radio station “2DayFm” that she would end her career.
The video of the Australian in Paris became a viral hit and brought the 37-year-old a lot of malice and ridicule – but also a lot of fame. At a concert in Munich, pop star Adele described Raygun’s performance as her favorite moment of the Paris Games. After returning to Australia, she landed several magazine covers and received endorsement deals.
Hatred and malice on the Internet: Raygun draws conclusions
But the ongoing criticism of her performance prompted her to stop taking part in competitions. The criticism of the 37-year-old became louder again when it was announced in September that she would top the world rankings, and conspiracy theories also spread.
The world association WDSF finally felt compelled to issue a statement. Accordingly, no ranking competitions would have taken place between December 31, 2023 and the Olympic Games. Since only the past twelve months are taken into account in the ranking, many athletes only have one top result in the ranking instead of the usual four, the association explained. Because Raygun won the federation’s Oceania Championships, through which she also qualified for the Games, she ended up at the top of the rankings. Ami Yuasa, who won the gold medal in Paris, has been standing there since the end of October.
“I was definitely planning on continuing to compete, but now it seems really difficult for me to compete,” Raygun said on Australian radio. The criticism on social media would have hit her hard. “It was really shocking. I just had no control over how people saw me or who I was,” the Australian confessed. Dancing would be so much fun and it made you feel good: “I think people shouldn’t feel bad because they dance”.
She is now holding on to the beautiful and motivating messages that some users have written to her. And the 37-year-old doesn’t want to stop dancing completely: “I’ll continue to dance and break. But only in my living room with my husband.” In any case, she wouldn’t have had much of a chance of taking part in the Olympics again. After the premiere in Paris, the IOC removed Breaking from the program for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
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