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The Australian, ridiculed for her kangaroo hops and poor score at the games, says competing on the breakdancing floor has become ‘really difficult’ for her.
Published On 7 Nov 2024
Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has announced her retirement from competition, citing a “really upsetting” backlash following her performance at the Paris Olympics.
Raygun, 37, became something of a global laughing stock after her unorthodox routine, including kangaroo hops and imitating a sprinkler, failed to impress the judges at the games.
Her moves were copied on late-night talk shows and her unfashionable green tracksuit was mercilessly parodied online.
Gunn told Sydney radio she was still breaking but not competing.
“I’m not going to compete any more,” she told Australian radio station 2DayFM on Wednesday.
“I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now to approach a battle.
“Yeah, I mean I still dance, and I still break. But, you know, that’s like in my living room with my partner.
“It’s been really upsetting. I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was.”
Conspiracy theories abounded to explain how the university lecturer had even made it to the Australian Olympic team.
Gunn, an overnight sensation, 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.
An online petition that accused 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 AOC also refuted a claim that Gunn’s husband, Samuel Free, who is also her coach, was involved in her selection.
Gunn said the “conspiracy theories were totally wild”.
“But I just try and stay on the positives and that’s what gets me through,” she added.
“The people that have like [said], ‘you have inspired me to go out there and do something that I’ve been too shy to do. You’ve brought joy, you’ve brought laughter. You know, we’re so proud of you.'”
While many lampooned her performance on social media, Gunn won support from others, including her fellow Australian Olympians and even the country’s prime minister.
Raygun did have the last laugh in September when she was briefly elevated to the top of the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) rankings.
The WDSF named her the number one women’s breakdancer based on winning the Oceania Championship, one of only a few events held that counted towards the rankings in the run-up to the Olympics.
Breaking was dropped from the Olympic programme for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Gunn said she would not consider coming out of retirement if the dance sport returned to the games.
