Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn aka Raygun responded to the criticism over her viral performance at the recently concluded Paris Olympics 2024.
Breakdancing made its Olympic debut at the Paris Games 2024. The sport failed to attract any hype but what caught the attention was the performance of Raygun. Rachael Gunn was brutally trolled and ridiculed over her performance, with critics claiming that her style lacked the originality of the traditional breakdancing elements.
Raygun drew severe backlash over her performance and mockery over some of her moves, including Kangaroo Dance. Rachael Gunn posted video of her on Instagram, where she appreciated the positivity despite the criticism over her performance. The 36-year-old added that she didn’t realised that she would receive much hate.
“I really appreciate the positivity, and I’m glad I was able to some joy in your lives. That’s what I hoped. I didn’t realize that would open the door to so much hate, which is frankly, been pretty devastating.” Australian breakdancer said.
“I went out there and I had fun,” the 36-year-old breaker said. “I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics, and I gave my all.” she added.
The troll over Rachael Gunn’s performance went to such an extent where she was made fun on Jimmy Fallon’s ‘The Tonight Show’. An actor dressed up like Raygun and mocked her with steps that she performed at the Paris Olympics. Responding to the mockery, she said, “bit of a fun fact for you.”
Apart from being a breakdancer, Rachael Gunn is a professor at a university in Sydney and also obtained a Philosophy Of Doctorate (PhD) in cultural studies from Macquarie University in New South Wales in 2008.
Raygun opens up about lack of points
Apart from being criticised for her performance at the Paris Olympics, Raygun was trolled for not getting a single point in breakdancing. The native of Hornsby in Sydney’s New South Wales lost all of her three round-robin battles with a score 0-54.
Raygun stated that there were no points in breakdancing, adding that judges of the competition has evaluated her against their opponents based on specific criteria.
“There are actually no points in breaking. If you want to see how the judges thought I compared to my opponents, you can actually see the comparison percentages across the five criteria on Olympics com. All the results are there.” she added.
Raygun was clubbed in group B alongside Dominika Banevic, Sya Dembele and Logan Edra. Rachael Gun was the only woman breakdancer to have received zero points at the Paris Olympics 2024.
