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Rachael Gunn, AKA Raygun, defended herself in the first interview she has given since her embarrassing breaking performance at the Paris Olympics sent her viral.
The 36-year-old university lecturer told Australia’s Channel 10 show The Project that she deserved to be at the Olympics because she “was the top-ranked Australian B girl in 2020 and 2022, and 2023.”
Raygun added, “So the record is there, but anything can happen in a battle.”
There was much discussion following her performance about how Gunn became the top-ranked breaker in Australia, including several conspiracy theories that she manipulated the qualifying process for the Olympics.
“The conspiracy theories were just awful,” Gunn said. “That was really upsetting, because it wasn’t just people that didn’t understand breaking and were just angry about my performance.
“It was people that are now attacking our reputation and our integrity. And none of them were grounded in any kind of facts. People still don’t believe the truth, but … I think that’s just going to be part of our reality, unfortunately.”
Gunn also revealed that she hasn’t watched her full Olympics performance, in which she scored zero points, since the Games concluded.
“I have seen little bits and pieces, but I will watch it eventually,” Gunn admitted.
“I knew that I was going to get beaten, and I knew that people were not going to understand my style and what I was going to do,” she added. “The odds were against me, that’s for sure.”
Rachael Gunn also said she was first alerted to her breaking routines going viral by an Australian Olympics Committee liaison.
“As soon as I finished my rounds, my media liaison from the AOC said, ‘Oh, there’s a bit of a storm brewing on social media. You might want to go off socials.’ I didn’t understand the scale of it,” she said. “I did preview some comments, and I was like, ‘Oh, no,’ and this kind of sick feeling started coming out.
“It is really sad to hear those criticisms and I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react.
“Unfortunately, we just need some more resources in Australia for us to have a chance to be world champions.
“In the last year, I have trained my hardest. … I have really put my body through it, put my mind through it. But if that’s not good enough for someone, what can I say?”