The Australian Olympic Committee has condemned an anonymous online petition that repeats falsehoods about how B-girl Rachael “Raygun” Gunn was selected to compete at the Paris Games.
Matt Carroll, the chief executive of the AOC, said the petition – which also criticised Australia’s chef de mission, Anna Meares – was “disgraceful” and amounted to bullying and harassment.
Gunn, a 36-year-old university lecturer, saw her performance in the Olympic breaking event attract widespread attention on social media. She failed to receive a single point from the judges and was knocked out at the round-robin stage.
The petition, which has amassed more than 45,000 signatures, alleged Gunn had “manipulated” the selection process to her own advantage, and questioned whether Gunn’s husband was part of the selection panel.
But Carroll said the petition contained numerous “disgraceful” falsehoods and was designed to “engender hatred” towards Gunn, who he said was selected in a transparent and independent process. He said he had written to change.org “demanding” the petition be withdrawn immediately.
“It is disgraceful that these falsehoods concocted by an anonymous person can be published in this way. It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory,” Carroll said in a statement.
“It’s important that the community understands the facts and that people do not form opinions based on malicious untruths and misinformation.”
The committee’s statement debunked a number of claims made in the petition, outlining that the judging panel in the qualifying event that Gunn won consisted of nine independent international judges. It also stated that Gunn held no position with the bodies that conducted the event, AUSBreaking or DanceSport Australia.
Gunn’s husband, Samuel Free – who is a professional breakdancer and Gunn’s coach – also held no position with either body and was not a judge at the qualifying event, the statement said.
It also outlined that Gunn was legitimately nominated after winning the qualifying event and there were no appeals from the other competitors, and that Meares was not involved in the qualifying event nor the nomination of athletes.
“The AOC is particularly offended by the affront to our Chef de Mission, Anna Meares. The Australian Team Chef de Mission played no role in the qualification events nor the nomination of athletes to the AOC Selection Committee, of which the Chef and I are members.”
Earlier in the week, Meares issued an impassioned defence of Gunn, hitting out at “keyboard warriors” and saying Gunn was the “best [female breaking competitor] that we have for Australia”.
Members of Australia’s breaking community have described Gunn as a respected member of the local scene, but said her performance at the Olympics doesn’t represent the standard of breaking in Australia.
One member said there were a number of technical factors that stopped many of Australia’s best B-girls from attending the qualifying event for the Olympics.
