Breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has apologized for the backlash caused by her controversial performance at the 2024 Olympics.
The Australian athlete failed to score a single point during the competition and quickly became the subject of online mockery for her moves – which included a kangaroo hop of sorts at one point.
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Talking to Australia’s Channel 10 TV this week, she said: “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? It was really sad how much hate that it did evoke. And a lot of the responses is also just due to people not being very familiar with breaking and the diversity of approaches in breaking.”
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She also noted she is the best b-girl in her country, adding, “I think my record speaks to that,” she said. “I was the top ranked Australian B girl in 2020 and 2022, and 2023… so the record is there. But anything can happen in a battle.”
It was the first time breakdancing had been included in the Olympics and Snoop Dogg was seen watching the event from the stands.
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Raygun’s performance was widely mocked as she failed to perform any traditional breakdancing moves and instead was seen flopping and rolling around the floor.
There were plenty of viral videos made of her performance, with one dubbing commentary from Peter Griffin in Family Guy over the footage.
Another viewer also compared one move she did to the Grinch creeping around.
Even Dr. Dre chimed in on her moves, telling Entertainment Tonight: “I did not like that. It’s so many great breakdancers that I don’t know why they had this particular person doing that.
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“It was funny, I got some laughs out of it, but what the fuck? […] There are incredible breakdancers out right now; I don’t know how that happened.”
