B-girl Raygun of Workforce Australia was focused by haters and conspiracy theorists after she broke out a raft of unorthodox strikes throughout the Breaking B-Women competitors on the Paris Olympics on the Place de la Concorde venue.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Photos
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Ezra Shaw/Getty Photos
Her efficiency in breaking on the Paris Olympics sparked smiles and marvel — and a backlash of invective and conspiracy theories. However sufficient is sufficient, says B-girl Raygun, and the Australian Olympic Committee agrees.
“It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory,” the AOC mentioned of an internet petition focusing on the dancer and others, including that the actions “stirred up public hatred without any factual basis. It’s appalling.”
Rachael Gunn, who competes as Raygun, spoke out on Instagram — beginning with sending due to those that have supported her.
“I really appreciate the positivity and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives,” she mentioned. “That’s what I hoped.”
“I didn’t realize that that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating,” Gunn added.
Gunn turned a flashpoint within the closing weekend of the Paris Video games, after she broke out a bunch of unorthodox strikes in opposition to the world’s finest breakdancers. Photos of her shifting like a kangaroo, a snake and a sprinkler shortly turned memes.
Comic Rachel Dratch even impersonated the Australian throughout Jimmy Fallon’s monologue to open The Tonight Present.
And whereas many individuals praised Gunn for her assuredness and confidence in performing in a manner nobody has ever carried out, her strikes additionally drew a flotilla of criticism and questions.
Some even requested — or mentioned outright — that all of it may need been some sort of hoax or analysis venture for Gunn, 36, a full-time college lecturer who researches dance and gender politics and has studied a spread of dance kinds, in accordance with her Olympics bio.
Some critics even accused Gunn of benefiting from a rigged competitors, alleging that her journey to Paris was the product of a conspiracy.
In her assertion on Instagram, Gunn mentioned her purpose was to have enjoyable in her competitors, whereas additionally taking it “very seriously.”
“I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics and I gave my all, truly,” she mentioned.
Within the instant aftermath of her ouster from medal rivalry, Gunn additionally mentioned she purposefully selected to concentrate on originality and elegance in her strikes, as a method to distinguish herself in opposition to rivals with robust abilities in acrobatics and energy strikes.
“What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative — that’s my strength, my creativity,” Gunn mentioned, in accordance with the Australian Broadcasting Company.
“I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get in a lifetime to do that on an international stage?”
Within the course of, Raygun managed to turn into the most important speaking level at an occasion that additionally included a go to from rapper and commentator Snoop Dogg. However regardless of the excitement, breaking has an unsure future on the Olympics: the 2028 Summer time Video games, in Los Angeles, does not embrace breaking on its roster of occasions.
In her newest assertion, Gunn spoke concerning the honor of going to the Paris Recreation and being a part of breaking’s Olympic debut, and he or she urged doubters to keep away from “misinformation” and as a substitute depend on sources such because the AOC and the official Olympics web site for details about her competitions.
Whereas Gunn did not win a spherical in her dance battles, some judges did give her a slight edge in originality, and a minimum of one did so in “vocabulary” — the number of strikes a dancer employs. These are two of the 5 standards used to pick winners.
The AOC just lately launched a 12-point fact-check to fight the unfold of outlandish claims in opposition to Gunn, saying no athlete needs to be handled the way in which she has.
AusBreaking, the nationwide governing physique, additionally debunked the assaults on Gunn — together with the broadly circulated, however false, allegation that her husband and coach, Samuel Free, had one way or the other orchestrated her victory in final yr’s qualifying competitions. The Australian Related Press agreed with the group, in a separate fact-check.
The World DanceSport Federation, breaking’s sanctioning group, additionally issued an announcement, saying it stands in opposition to harassment and abuse, together with cyberbullying.
Gunn mentioned she’s planning to stay in Europe till September, for a trip. She concluded her message by asking the press to “please stop harassing my family, my friends, the Australian breaking community and the broader street dance community.”
“Everyone has been through a lot as a result of this,” she mentioned.
