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Australian breakdancer Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn‘s Olympic debut may have been met with mixed reviews, but her husband and father-in-law have passionately rallied around her with unwavering support.
Competing in the first-ever Olympic women’s breakdancing event, the 36-year-old stirred up quite the controversy after her performance included some unique moves and kangaroo-like hopping steps.
Highlights
- Rachael 'Raygun' Gunn stirred controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics with her unique breakdancing moves.
- Despite her efforts, she scored 0 points against competitors from the USA, France, and Lithuania.
- Her family defended her performance, arguing that judges overlooked her creativity and unique style.
- "In my obviously biased opinion they did not reward originality and musicality so she was up against it," her father-in-law said.
“What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative – that’s my strength, my creativity,” she said post-event.
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The family of Australian breakdancer Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn staunchly defended after she failed to score a single point at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Image credits: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
This will never not be funny. 🤣 #Raygunpic.twitter.com/6hOKMyOue9
— Nara Hodge (@Nara_Hodge) August 12, 2024
Despite her best efforts, she didn’t score any points against competitors from the USA, France, and Lithuania, losing all three round-robin battles with scores of 18-0, 18-0, and 18-0.
The internet ran wild with their mockery of the breakdancer’s performance, with even talk show host Jimmy Fallon including a cheeky tribute to her on his show.
However, her father-in-law, Andrew Free, fiercely defended her performance, arguing that the judges overlooked her unique style and creativity.
The 36-year-old breakdancer was not only the target of jokes online, but she was even mentioned by singer Adele on stage. Jimmy Fallon also paid a cheeky tribute to her on his show
View this post on Instagram
me, trying to get up from bed as as I get a cramp in my leg pic.twitter.com/ppJyXh5fJm
— Laura Martínez ™️ (@miblogestublog) August 9, 2024
“I can’t work out if it was a joke”: Adele is mesmerised by Dr Raygun pic.twitter.com/QoScqhLJbM
— australian kitsch 🦘 (@OzKitsch) August 11, 2024
“It was a pretty stacked competition and the judges were clearly looking for a certain style of breaking which is not Rachael’s,” he shared on social media.
“Although they are supposed to mark five different aspects with each having the same weighting, in my obviously biased opinion they did not reward originality and musicality so she was up against it.”
“The main thing is she represented Australia and breaking at the Olympics with courage and dignity,” he added.
Raygun grew up performing jazz, ballroom, and tap, and she was introduced to breakdancing in university by her now-husband and coach, Samuel Free
View this post on Instagram
Raygun’s path to the Olympics was hard-earned, as she secured her spot at the Games by winning the Oceania Breaking Championships last year.
After growing up performing jazz, ballroom, and tap, she was introduced to break-dancing at university by her now-husband and coach, Samuel Free.
The couple met in 2008 and married in 2018, and they have since dedicated their lives to her breaking career.
When she is not busting her moves on stage, the Australian champion channels her passion for dance into academia.
Holding a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies, she is a researcher and lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney. Her academic interests are in the “cultural politics of breaking,” according to her university biography.
The Ph.D. holder is also a researcher and lecturer at the Macquarie University in Sydney
View this post on Instagram
Her research interests include subjects like breaking, street dance, and hip-hop culture; youth cultures/scenes; constructions of the dancing body; politics of gender and gender performance; and ethnography.
After she became a viral sensation, head judge Martin Gilian, known as MGbility, from the Olympics came to her defense and praised her for “bringing something new to the table.”
“She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was a kangaroo,” he said at a news conference.
“In my obviously biased opinion they did not reward originality and musicality so she was up against it,” said the father-in-law of the Australian breakdancer following the controversy
View this post on Instagram
“We have five criteria in the competitive judging system and just her level was maybe not as high as the other competitors,” MGbility continued. “But again, that doesn’t mean that she did really bad. She did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier… unfortunately for her, the other b-girls were better.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also defended her and said, “(It’s an) Australian tradition of people having a go. She’s had a go representing our country and that’s a good thing.”
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What do you think ?
Sunny Day 1 year ago
By any chance, was she the only contestant at the Oceania Breaking Competition?
Amelia Jade 1 year ago (edited)
She was not. According to what I read, she went up against a girl named Holy Molly. I found footage of Holy Molly breakdancing, and she is really good. I'm so confused by this whole thing. I saw an Australian news show where a guy within breakdancing community was defending her. It's just her style, her character, he said. Okay, but you still should know how to actually breakdance. I can bring style and character to any of the sports that were in the Olympics. That doesn't mean I'm actually good enough to compete. Why are people afraid to say she can't actually breakdance??
Load More Replies...
ByeFelicia 1 year ago
Oh come on. Her performance was terrible. She looked like she was having a medical episode. She deserved the 0 she got.
Shortstuff 1 year ago
She has the last laugh...Australia paid all her expenses for a holiday.
Load More Replies...
Zoe Vokes 1 year ago
Her routine is just bad. Originality and creativity could work if done in a more stylistic and impressive way. Her routine looked basic and simple. It definitely doesn’t look Olympic le el.
Load More Replies...
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
There must be rules that govern what the judges are looking for, as there are in things like gymnastics and artistic swimming. If she didn't do any of the required elements, she should score zero. From what I saw, it certainly didn't look like what any of the others were doing, or what I would expect from breakdancing.
Libstak 1 year ago
So many enablers with their heads up their a*s and she was picked over a competitor to represent Australia who did actually understand break dancing elements...as an Aussie...wtf?..Sorry to her, it's not her fault everyone around her was dazzled by the idea of original creativity in a SPORT. Sports have rules for a reason, the competitors have to be weighted as apples versus apples, not apples versus mango kumquats, thats 2 different disciplines obviously. I cant believe the selectors were so bedazzling off.
Glennys Andrews 1 year ago
I reckon the judges should have had a horn to be able to stop what looked like her having a seizure on the stage, that would have stop a lot of the stupidity she done up on the stage representing Australia, so not fair on all the other Australian Olympians who have been training over the years to be their, she made a mockery of a dance style, she deserves all that shes getting, if your gonna get up their with the deserved professionals and act like a 5 year old then be prepared to be treated like one
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
I honestly had to stop watching her routine as it reminded me of the times my father, who sustained a catastrophic brain injury in 2000, would try to "stand up and walk" out of his bed (which had medical bars on the sides.) He would fall on the ground and sort of flop and thrash around, and if I was home alone (I was his primary caregiver) I had to try and lift his 180 pounds of dead weight back into bed while he was basically trying to fight me off and stand up. His brain injury was catastrophic and he didn't know what was going on. Raygun flopping around brought back absolutely horrible memories and feelings. I know that part is on me, not her, but I also watched other competitors of both genders and they looked fantastic and athletic af.
Load More Replies...
Nikita/I.T.O. Todo Terreno 1 year ago
it's like running backward in 110m hurdle and expect sympathy and demand not to be laughed at because of her "originality".
Melissa Hollowell 1 year ago
Painfully awkward and clearly out of her depth. I love to dance and probably look like a spastic sloth but I know my limits and that I do not belong on the world's biggest stage. Having said that, I hope she does not give up on a hobby that she loves. She can keep doing it for fun and get more coaching if she wants to grow her skills.
h to da izzle 1 year ago
to make it short. That performance was not breakdancing. that was a poor attempt to incorporate having seizures or a stroke into a very difficult and hard to master form of dancing.
Marnie 1 year ago
She wasn't being original. They weren't her moves. She was doing her HUSBAND'S moves, who is not a good breakdancer technically. (He could impress people at a party of non-breakdancers at best.) I used to watch a lot of breakdancing several years ago, and I'm only assuming the top people have only gotten better since then. She was terrible, technically and style-wise.
Vicki Parslow Stafford 1 year ago
She breakdances just like like an indulged little ballet class girl whose parents thought the sun shone out of her little twinkly tap shoes.
Sunny Day 1 year ago
By any chance, was she the only contestant at the Oceania Breaking Competition?
Amelia Jade 1 year ago (edited)
She was not. According to what I read, she went up against a girl named Holy Molly. I found footage of Holy Molly breakdancing, and she is really good. I'm so confused by this whole thing. I saw an Australian news show where a guy within breakdancing community was defending her. It's just her style, her character, he said. Okay, but you still should know how to actually breakdance. I can bring style and character to any of the sports that were in the Olympics. That doesn't mean I'm actually good enough to compete. Why are people afraid to say she can't actually breakdance??
Load More Replies... ByeFelicia 1 year ago
Oh come on. Her performance was terrible. She looked like she was having a medical episode. She deserved the 0 she got.
Shortstuff 1 year ago
She has the last laugh...Australia paid all her expenses for a holiday.
Load More Replies... Zoe Vokes 1 year ago
Her routine is just bad. Originality and creativity could work if done in a more stylistic and impressive way. Her routine looked basic and simple. It definitely doesn’t look Olympic le el.
Load More Replies... Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
There must be rules that govern what the judges are looking for, as there are in things like gymnastics and artistic swimming. If she didn't do any of the required elements, she should score zero. From what I saw, it certainly didn't look like what any of the others were doing, or what I would expect from breakdancing.
Libstak 1 year ago
So many enablers with their heads up their a*s and she was picked over a competitor to represent Australia who did actually understand break dancing elements...as an Aussie...wtf?..Sorry to her, it's not her fault everyone around her was dazzled by the idea of original creativity in a SPORT. Sports have rules for a reason, the competitors have to be weighted as apples versus apples, not apples versus mango kumquats, thats 2 different disciplines obviously. I cant believe the selectors were so bedazzling off.
Glennys Andrews 1 year ago
I reckon the judges should have had a horn to be able to stop what looked like her having a seizure on the stage, that would have stop a lot of the stupidity she done up on the stage representing Australia, so not fair on all the other Australian Olympians who have been training over the years to be their, she made a mockery of a dance style, she deserves all that shes getting, if your gonna get up their with the deserved professionals and act like a 5 year old then be prepared to be treated like one
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
I honestly had to stop watching her routine as it reminded me of the times my father, who sustained a catastrophic brain injury in 2000, would try to "stand up and walk" out of his bed (which had medical bars on the sides.) He would fall on the ground and sort of flop and thrash around, and if I was home alone (I was his primary caregiver) I had to try and lift his 180 pounds of dead weight back into bed while he was basically trying to fight me off and stand up. His brain injury was catastrophic and he didn't know what was going on. Raygun flopping around brought back absolutely horrible memories and feelings. I know that part is on me, not her, but I also watched other competitors of both genders and they looked fantastic and athletic af.
Load More Replies... Nikita/I.T.O. Todo Terreno 1 year ago
it's like running backward in 110m hurdle and expect sympathy and demand not to be laughed at because of her "originality".
Melissa Hollowell 1 year ago
Painfully awkward and clearly out of her depth. I love to dance and probably look like a spastic sloth but I know my limits and that I do not belong on the world's biggest stage. Having said that, I hope she does not give up on a hobby that she loves. She can keep doing it for fun and get more coaching if she wants to grow her skills.
h to da izzle 1 year ago
to make it short. That performance was not breakdancing. that was a poor attempt to incorporate having seizures or a stroke into a very difficult and hard to master form of dancing.
Marnie 1 year ago
She wasn't being original. They weren't her moves. She was doing her HUSBAND'S moves, who is not a good breakdancer technically. (He could impress people at a party of non-breakdancers at best.) I used to watch a lot of breakdancing several years ago, and I'm only assuming the top people have only gotten better since then. She was terrible, technically and style-wise.
Vicki Parslow Stafford 1 year ago
She breakdances just like like an indulged little ballet class girl whose parents thought the sun shone out of her little twinkly tap shoes.
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