Australia’s Rachael Gunn, who performs below the identify B-girl Raygun, was the laughing inventory of the sporting world for her efficiency within the breaking competitors on the Paris Olympics.
Gunn became an internet meme for her unorthodox strikes, together with one referred to as “the kangaroo” which noticed her elevating one leg whereas standing and studying together with her arms bent towards her ears. In one other transfer, she reached for her toes whereas laying on her facet, earlier than flipping over and doing it once more. Gunn’s strikes have been extensively ridiculed by skilled dancers, who questioned how she certified to compete on the Paris Video games as an Olympic-level dancer.
Whereas Gunn scored zero factors in all three round-robin battles, head decide Martin Gilian has since praised the Aussie for not being afraid to take possibilities, shortly after the Australian Prime Minister asked Gunn to disregard on-line bullying.
“Breaking is all about originality and bringing one thing new to the desk…and that is precisely what Raygun was doing,” Gillian stated, via BBC. “She acquired impressed by her environment, which on this case, for instance, was a kangaroo.”
Not everybody within the breaking neighborhood was as supportive of Gunn. Fellow Australian dancer Leah Clark admitted that Gunn’s embarrassing displaying in Paris was a poor reflection on breaking and the Aussie contingent in Paris.
“It is actually affected us. We have got B-girls in tears about it,” Clark stated, via The Guardian. “How do I am going to work now and attempt to get our sponsorship and get our grant cash for breaking packages [for a sport] that is simply been made a mockery of? And the way can we go and symbolize our nation at different world-level occasions when Australia’s been made a idiot of? That is really affecting us on a a lot bigger scale than simply memes.”
The game of breaking will not be part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with sports activities resembling cricket, baseball and lacrosse returning to the Olympiad.
Gunn — who received the Oceania qualifier to earn her journey to the Paris Video games — has criticized the IOC for dropping breaking as an Olympic sport.
“What’s an Olympic sport? What are the similarities between dressage and creative swimming and the 100m dash and the pentathlon? Breaking is clearly athletic, it clearly requires an entire degree of dedication throughout various completely different features,” Gunn stated, via Unilad.
