Raygun quits competition after Olympic backlash
Australian breaker Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, who gained viral fame for her stunning performance at the Paris Olympics, plans to withdraw from the competition, she told a Sydney radio station on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old became the subject of widespread ridicule after her unorthodox Olympic routine, which included a move where she mimicked a kangaroo hop, sparking a wave of internet memes and clips. She did not win any of her three round-robin fights at the 2024 Games, where Breaking made his Olympic debut.
Gunn said she originally planned to continue competing, but changed her mind after saying it was a “disturbing” response.
“I still break, but I don’t compete,” she said on the radio 2DayFM’s “The Jimmy & Nath Show.” “I’m not going to participate anymore, no. … I would definitely continue to compete, but that seems very difficult to take a fight to right now.
She added that she still dances and takes breaks, “but that’s like in my living room with my partner.”
Raygun performs at the Olympic Games in Paris. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Gunn has previously spoken about her experiences and defended how she qualified for the Olympics. Theories about her qualification circulated online in the wake of her appearance, including a Change.org petition claiming she manipulated the process. The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) called for the petition to be removed and AOC chief executive Matt Carroll defended Gunn, calling the petition “disgraceful” and saying it spread misinformation.
Gunn won the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney, an automatic Olympic qualifier with 15 breakers. She previously said she knew “the odds were against her” when she competed in the Olympics.
“The conspiracy theories were completely wild,” Gunn said. “And it was really upsetting because I felt like I had no control over how people saw me or who I was, who my partner was, my story. And so it was really disturbing for a number of different reasons.
Breaking will not appear on the Olympic program at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles or the 2032 Games in Brisbane, Australia. As for what’s next for Gunn, it appears her Paris routine will be her last official dance. She holds a position as a university lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney and says she is working on “a number of projects that are happening behind the scenes.”
“It’s all the same kind of atmosphere where we’re trying to bring more positivity, encouraging people to dance and have fun and be creative and be themselves, to be their authentic self, whatever that looks like,” she said.
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