32. Respect for Raygun
With the 2024 Paris Olympics now complete, we Australians are beaming with pride. We watched our athletes produce our best Olympics result ever, a stellar effort for a little country in the Southern Hemisphere. This Olympics showcased the true power of our female athletes. So why are we turning to tear down our first female breakdancer, Raygun? Like all athletes, 36-year-old university lecturer, Rachel Gunn, had something to prove.
Getting to the top of your game in any field is no easy feat. Whether it’s writing a best-selling novel as a writer or designing your most successful piece as a fashion designer, it takes a lot of time and work. As athletes, they work for years on end to perfect their craft, keeping their bodies in check and working towards success.
You’re not alone if you giggled at the idea of competitive breakdancing making it to the big stage of the Olympics. Dance is both a sport and an expression of art so of course there was to be some confusion and misinterpretation of the sport. Every four years, we tune in to the traditional sports- the Aussie swimmers, our golden girls and boys, and gush over them around our dining tables. Although nothing is boring about watching the outstanding performances in traditional sports like track and field, the International Olympic Committee saw a need for new sports such as skateboarding (see last week’s say) and breakdancing.
I wanted to wait to let the dust settle and hear from Gunn before writing about this. I found it completely entertaining at the beginning, trying to discern if she was taking it seriously, but I was curious to learn more.In terms of performance, Gunn didn’t bring home any medals which is the main metric we measure Olympian's success by. I’m sure you’ve seen it by now, Raygun’s unique moves are elicited through feeling, letting the music guide her.
As entertaining as her kangaroo-hopping was, how hard can you be on someone who just represented her country and not performed to the standard you were hoping for, it would be incredibly hard to navigate. In an Instagram video addressing the controversy, Gunn says, “[It] has frankly been pretty devastating.”
Since her performances, she’s been the subject of an opening skit on The Tonight Night Show with Jimmy Fallon and Adele enthusiastically shared “It’s best thing that’s happened in the Olympics the entire time” to her sold-out Munich crowd.
Raygun gave it her best, simultaneously entertaining the world to no end. We should take it as a positive, it’s not that deep. We are all entitled to our opinions, I just don’t understand why there has to be such negative commentary when a little bit of research would show you Raygun was taking her time in the Olympics seriously. “While I went out there and I had fun, I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics and I gave it my all - truly” Gunn explains. I think it’s time to put some respect on Rachael Gunn’s name and ease up on the jokes. Although we won’t see Breaking at the Olympics again, I think we can all say we had fun watching her break it down, she just shouldn’t have to leave Paris having a breakdown.
