Australian Breaker Raygun Retires From Competitive Breakdancing After ‘Upsetting’ Backlash To Olympic Performance

Australian breakdancer Rachel “Raygun” Gunn retired from competitive breakdancing after the backlash she received for her performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On Aug. 9, Gunn became an internet sensation after she failed to score a point and finished last in the breakdancing competition, earning a combined score of 54-0. This defeat led to online ridicule as people mocked her and the sport of breakdancing.

She called the media frenzy following her Olympic debut “overwhelming” and confessed that it put her in a state of anxiety.

On Wednesday, the breakdancer told the Australian radio station 2Day FM that she was retiring from her sport.

“I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was,” she told the radio station. “I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems a really difficult thing for me to do now, to approach a battle. I still dance, and I still break, but that’s like, in my living room with my partner.”

She said the response from people online had been “really upsetting.”

“It’s still impossible to process; the conspiracy theories were totally wild, and it was really upsetting because I felt like I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was, who my partner was, my story,” she declared.

However, even though the breaker’s profile has grown, she now believes that she cannot compete within the expanding competitive Australian breaking scene.

“The level of scrutiny that’s going to be there, and people will be filming it, and it will go online. It’s just not going to mean the same thing; it’s not going to be the same experience because of everything that’s at stake,” Gunn stated.

She also mentioned that she has tried to stay positive and has various uplifting messages.

“That’s what gets me through, the people that are like, ‘you have inspired me to go out there and do something that I’ve been too shy to do, you’ve brought joy, you brought laughter, we’re so proud of you,'” the breaker noted. “And just really fr–kin’ lovely things that people have written, and that’s what I hold on to.”

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