Australian breaker Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, who rose to viral popularity for her bewildering efficiency on the Paris Olympics, plans to abdicate from festival, she informed a Sydney radio station Wednesday.
The 37-year-old become the topic of pervasive ridicule nearest her unorthodox Olympic regimen, which incorporated a journey by which she mimicked a kangaroo hopping that resulted in a stream of web memes and clips. She didn’t win any of her 3 round-robin battles on the 2024 Video games, the place breaking made its Olympic debut.
Gunn mentioned she firstly deliberate to reserve competing however modified her thoughts nearest what she mentioned used to be “upsetting” backlash.
“I still break, but I don’t compete,” she mentioned at the 2DayFM’s “The Jimmy & Nath Show.” “I’m not going to compete anymore, no. … I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now to approach a battle.”
She added that she nonetheless dances and breaks, “but that’s like in my living room with my partner.”
Raygun plays on the Olympics in Paris. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Pictures)
Gunn has prior to now spoken about her enjoy and defended how she certified for the Olympics. Theories over her qualification circulated on-line within the wake of her efficiency, together with a Exchange.org petition alleging she manipulated the method. The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) asked the petition’s removing and AOC eminent govt Matt Carroll defended Gunn, calling the petition “disgraceful” and announcing it unfold incorrect information.
Gunn received the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney, an automated Olympic qualifying festival with 15 breakers. She prior to now mentioned she knew “the odds were against” her when competing within the Olympics.
“The conspiracy theories were totally wild,” Gunn mentioned. “And it was really upsetting because I felt like I didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was, who my partner was, my story. And so it was really upsetting for a number of different reasons.”
Breaking isn’t slated to look at the Olympic program within the 2028 Video games in Los Angeles or the 2032 Video games in Brisbane, Australia. On the subject of what’s after for Gunn, it seems that her Paris regimen will likely be her terminating reputable dance. She holds a place as a school tutor at Macquarie College in Sydney, and mentioned she’s running on “some projects happening behind the scenes.”
“It’s all kind of of the same sort of vibe of trying to bring more positivity, trying to encourage people to dance, to have fun and to be creative and to be themselves, to be their authentic selves, whatever that might look like,” she mentioned.
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(Picture: Elsa / Getty Pictures)
