Olympic break dancer Raygun blames the criticism on ‘uneducated’ viewers
B Girl Raygun.
Rene Nijhuis/BSR Agency/Getty ImagesOlympic break dancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn is firing back at critics who mocked her viral performance at the 2024 Paris Games, claiming they are “uneducated” and their attacks are “alarming.”
Raygun, 37, took social media by storm last month when her unorthodox technique saw her lose all three of her round-robin Olympic battles by a combined score of 54-0. Despite the loss, she claims she has earned her place on Team Australia as the country’s best breakdancer.
“I think my record speaks to that,” Gunn said in a Sept. 4 post. interview with Australia’s Channel 10 TV. “I was the top-ranked Australian B girl in 2020, 2022 and 2023. … So the record is there, but in a fight anything can happen.”
In the first interview she has done since the Olympics, the athlete added that her critics simply didn’t understand what she was trying to do.
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“I am very sorry for the backlash the community has experienced, but I have no control over how people respond,” she said. “Unfortunately, in Australia we just need a little more resources to have a chance of becoming world champions.”
Raygun, whose full-time job is as a university lecturer, has also faced accusations of manipulating the qualifying process to earn her place on the team. An online petition outlining the alleged manipulations gathered more than 50,000 signatures.
“Rachel Gunn [sic]which created its own governing body for breakdancing, has manipulated the selection process to its own advantage. Despite the obvious talent and qualifications of other outstanding female breakdancers such as G Clef and Holy Molly, they have been unfairly overlooked,” the petition said. “The NT Youlong Boys, a group of incredibly talented and disadvantaged young people from the Northern Territory, were introduced by Dr. Gunn denied crucial funding to attend the qualifiers – a decision that directly affected their opportunity to showcase their skills on a national stage.”
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The Australian Olympic Committee subsequently removed the petition, calling it ‘vexatious, misleading and bullying’.
Raygun herself defended her work ethic that helped her secure a spot at the Paris Games.
“I trained the hardest last year,” she says. “I really put my body through it, put my mind through it. But if that’s not good enough for someone, what can I say?”
She added that while she likely won’t compete again, she assured fans that she can handle the criticism.
“I’ll survive, I’m fine,” she said. “I would rather focus on the positives of this, and the positive reactions and the joy that I have brought to people.”
