Photo: Rene Nijhuis/BSR Agency/Getty Images
Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, the controversial Paris Olympics breaker for Australia, gave her first post-’lympos interview in September. Now, she has announced her retirement from competitive breaking.
Raygun speaks!
September 4, 2024: Speaking to Australia’s Channel 10 TV, Gunn said actually it was ignorance of the sport which motivated people to dunk on her so. “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.” She described the vitriol levied against her as “alarming,” and maintained that she is in fact the best B girl in Australia. “I think my record speaks to that,” she said. “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.” Anything …like T-Rex arms?
Raygun said she was sorry for the backlash the community has experienced. “Unfortunately, we just need some more resources in Australia for us to have a chance to be world champions,” she said, adding that she’d trained all year for the Olympics: “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?”
Raygun quits!
November 6, 2024: Rachael Gunn has announced her official retirement from the sport of breaking. “I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now,” she told Australian radio station 2DayFM, as reported by the BBC. “I think the level of scrutiny that’s going to be there, and people will be filming it, and it will go online.” Gunn says the backlash against her, which included everything from threats of violence to a Rachel Dratch, have made dancing in general less fun. “Dancing is so much fun, and it makes you feel good. I don’t think people should feel crap about the way that they dance,” she said. “I still dance, and I still break. But, you know, that’s like in my living room with my partner!”
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