(NEW YORK) — Rachael Gunn, the Australian breakdancer known as Raygun, is speaking out after her 2024 Paris Olympics performance went viral and was mocked both online and off.
Gunn, a 36-year-old college professor with a Ph.D. in cultural studies, said in a new video posted on Instagram Thursday that the “hate” she has received has been “devastating.”
“I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me. I really appreciate the positivity, and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives. That’s what I hoped,” Gunn said in the video, her first since competing in Paris. “I didn’t realize that that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating.”
Gunn did not earn a medal in Paris, where she competed against fellow b-girls in their late teens and early 20s.
After losing her three round-robin battles by a score of 54-0, Gunn’s unique dance moves quickly became the focus of memes and jokes on social media.
On social media, some users dubbed one move by Gunn “the kangaroo,” while others compared her dance moves to when a child asks you to watch their performance.
“I’d like to personally thank Raygun for making millions of people worldwide think ‘huh, maybe I can make the Olympics too,'” one user wrote on X, alongside a photo of Raygun’s Olympic performance.
The criticisms online against Gunn also included unsubstantiated claims that she had manipulated the selection process to make it to Paris, where breaking was included for the first time in Olympic history.
In her new video, Gunn defended herself against those claims, calling them “allegations” and “misinformation.”
“While I went out there and I had fun, I did take it very seriously,” she said. “I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics, and I gave my all, truly.”
She continued, “I’m honored to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team, and to be part of breaking Olympic debut. What the other athletes have achieved has just been phenomenal.”
Gunn also directed her followers to statements made by the Australian Breaking Organization and the Australian Olympic Committee defending her selection and performance in Paris.
In 2023, Gunn won the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney to earn Australia’s first-ever spot in the b-girl competition at the Olympics, according to her Olympic bio.
“The Oceania Olympic selection event (The QMS 2023 WDSF Oceania Breaking Championships) in October 2023 brought together the top Breakers, both Bgirls and Bboys. A panel of 9 international adjudicators, a head judge and a chairperson who oversaw the competition, using the same judging system at the Paris Games and trained to uphold the highest standards of impartiality. These judges are all highly respected in their respective communities and in the international Breaking scene,” the Australian Breaking Organization said in an Aug. 13 statement shared on its website. “Ultimately, Rachael Gunn and Jeff Dunne emerged as the top performers in exactly the same pro
