Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn defends record amid Paris Olympics criticism

SYDNEY — Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, the Australian breaker who became an overnight sensation at the Paris Olympics, defended her breakdancing skills and suggested much of the criticism she received for her performance last month was born of ignorance of the sport.

Gunn lost all three of her round-robin battles by a combined score of 54-0 when breaking made its Olympic debut at the Place de la Concorde.

A university lecturer, Gunn was mocked online and in the mainstream media for everything from her moves to her green official team uniform in a frenzy of criticism she described as “alarming.”

Gunn, 37, said she knew the odds were against her going into the competition but maintained that she was the best female breaker in Australia.

“I think my record speaks to that,” Gunn told Australia’s Channel 10 TV in her first interview since the Games. “I was the top-ranked Australian B girl in 2020 and 2022, and 2023. … So the record is there, but anything can happen in a battle.”

Gunn said she had received plenty of support, but admitted it was sad to hear criticism from other Australian breakers.

“I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react,” she added. “Unfortunately, we just need some more resources in Australia for us to have a chance to be world champions.

“In the last year, I have trained my hardest. … I have really put my body through it, put my mind through it. But if that’s not good enough for someone, what can I say?”

Gunn said a lot of the criticism came from people who just did not understand the different styles of breaking and what she was trying to achieve in the competition.

“It was really sad how much hate that it did evoke,” she said. “And a lot of the responses is also just due to people not being very familiar with breaking and the diversity of approaches in breaking.

“[But] the energy and vitriol that people had was pretty alarming.”

An online petition accusing Gunn of manipulating the qualification procedure to earn her Paris spot attracted 50,000 signatures before it was removed at the request of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).

“The conspiracy theories were just awful,” Gunn said. “That was really upsetting, because it wasn’t just people that didn’t understand breaking and were just angry about my performance.

“It was people that are now attacking our reputation and our integrity. And none of them were grounded in any kind of facts. People still don’t believe the truth, but … I think that’s just going to be part of our reality, unfortunately.”

AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said last month that the online petition had “stirred up public hatred without any factual basis,” adding that it was “vexatious, misleading and bullying.” Carroll added that Gunn had been “selected through a transparent and independent qualification event and nomination process.”

Gunn said she was unlikely to be competing again anytime soon but was confident she would come through her Paris experience relatively unscathed.

“I’ll survive, I’m all right,” she concluded. “I would rather much focus on the positives out of this, and the positive responses and the joy that I brought people.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.