Raygun, the Australian break dancing Olympian who went viral for scoring zero points during the 2024 games in Paris, is speaking up about backlash following the event.
“Hi everyone, Raygun here. I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me,” she shared in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday. “I really appreciate the positivity and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives. 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,” the competitor, whose real name is Rachael Gunn, continued. “While I went out there and I had fun, I did take it very seriously.”
She continued: “I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics and I gave my all, truly. I’m honored to have been a part of the Australian Olympic Team and to be part of breaking’s Olympic debut.”
Gunn also advised followers to refer to statements by the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) regarding the controversy that surfaced after her appearance.
The AOC had previously condemned a change.org petition calling for an investigation into Gunn’s selection for the Paris Olympics, claiming she unfairly manipulated the system. Petition creators claimed that both she and her husband/coach Samuel Free were involved in the selection process.
AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said the petition had “stirred up public hatred without any factual basis” and called it “vexatious, misleading and bullying,” per ESPN.
Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.
“It is disgraceful that these falsehoods concocted by an anonymous person can be published in this way,” Carroll said. “It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory. We are demanding that it be removed from the site immediately. No athlete who has represented their country at the Olympic Games should be treated in this way.”
The petition had earned more than 50,000 signatures before it was removed from the platform. The poster, identified only as “Someone who REALLY hates corruption,” restarted the petition with slightly different wording on Thursday.
Gunn continued in the Instagram video, “But I’d really like to ask 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, so I ask you to please respect their privacy. I’ll be happy to answer more questions on my return to Australia. Thanks, everyone.”
Besides being an Olympic competitor, Gunn is also a university lecturer who holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from a university in Sydney. She wrote a dissertation entitled: “Deterritorializing Gender in Sydney’s Breakdancing Scene: A B-girl’s Experience of B-boying.”
Break dancing will not be part of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
