Raygun Argues She's Still The Best Breakdancer In Australia

BYCole Blake2.1K Views
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Australian Breakdancer Rachael Gunn Portrait Session
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 17: Australian Olympic breaking athlete Rachael 'Raygun' Gunn poses during a portrait session in the Sydney central business district on April 17, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Gunn is representing Australia as a B-Girl after qualifying for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Women's Breaking on it's Olympic debut. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Raygun is sorry for the backlash the performance caused to the breakdancing community.

Raygun says that she's the best breakdancer in Australia and the controversy surrounding her performance at the Paris Olympics boils down to most viewers not understanding “the diversity of approaches in breaking.” Raygun discussed the event, becoming a viral sensation, and the accusations she's faced in the time since during an interview with The Project.

“I think my record speaks to that,” she said of being worthy to compete at the Olympics. “I was the top-ranked Australian b-girl in 2020 and 2022 and 2023 … The record is there. But anything can happen in a battle.” She went on to admit her chances of actually winning were low. “I knew my chances were slim,” she said. “As soon as I qualified, I was like, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?’ Because I knew that I was gonna get beaten and I knew people were not gonna understand my style and what I was gonna do.” Regardless, she's “very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced.”

Raygun Performs During The Paris Olympics

PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 09: B-Girl Raygun of Team Australia reacts during the B-Girls Round Robin - Group B on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Place de la Concorde on August 09, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

After the Olympics, rumors began to spread that Raygun had conspired to even qualify in the first place. “The conspiracy theories were just awful,” she said. “That was really—that was upsetting because it wasn’t just people that didn’t understand breaking and were just angry about my performance. It was people now attacking our reputation and integrity. None of them were grounded in any kind of facts. And obviously they’re still circulating. People still don’t believe the truth, but we do live in a different world now.”

Raygun Discusses Her Viral Performance In Paris

Raygun ended up not securing a single point for breakdancing and the sport will not be featured in Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympic games. Check out her full comments from the interview with The Project below. Be on the lookout for further updates on Raygun on HotNewHipHop.

[Via]

About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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