Australian breaker Rachael ‘RayGun’ Gunn has made a statement following the backlash she received for her performance in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday night, Gunn shared a video speaking directly to the camera.
“I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me. I really appreciate the positivity, and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives. That’s what I hoped,” the 36-year-old began.
“I didn’t realise that that would also open the door to so much hate, which frankly has been pretty devastating. But I went out there and I had fun.”
Despite the claims that RayGun attempted to make the Olympics into a joke, she maintains that she was 100 per cent serious in her pursuit.
“I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics, and I gave my all, truly, I’m honoured to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team and to be part of Breaking’s Olympic debut,” she continued.
“What the other athletes have achieved has just been phenomenal.”
Following the Change.org petition which alleged that Gunn used dodgy means to make the Australian Olympic team, Gunn encouraged people to refer to the Australian Olympic Committee‘s statement, posts on the Breaking Aus Instagram and the WDSF Breaking for Gold page. All three organisations have publically condemned the petition, stating that the allegations are untrue and defamatory.
“Bit of a fun fact for you, there are actually no points in breaking,” she said, presumably in an effort to squash the critique that she scored 0 during her event.
“If you want to see how the judges thought I compared to my opponents, you can actually see the comparison percentages across the five criteria on Olympics.com — all the results are there.”
Gunn revealed that she would be in Europe for some “pre-planned downtime” but asked the press to stop harassing her family, friends and the Australian 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,” she concluded.
Gunn was the first Australian woman to compete in the inaugural Breaking event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She quickly went viral for her unconventional moves — including the iconic kangaroo bounce. While some people have applauded her spirit, she has also been the target of a considerable amount of international online hate.
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