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Her name was Raygun and she stunned, all right.
Australian professor Rachael Gunn went viral for her performance in the Olympic breaking competition — and not because of any slick moves.
As the b-girl hopped around like a kangaroo and flopped around on the floor, reactions ranged from plentiful laughter to heavy cringe … and often both.
Her performance in Paris launched a myriad of memes, becoming an enduring image of breaking’s first Olympic games.
How did this — whatever it was — represent an art born of hip-hop culture?
Legendary New York b-boy Crazy Legs had no intention of speaking on Raygun or her August 9 performance. That is, until people wouldn’t stop asking him about it.
So he took to Instagram Saturday night to share his thoughts.
Chief among them: Raygun shouldn’t have been an Olympic contender at all.
“My personal opinion is that she should’ve never been on that stage,” he said.
At the same time, the veteran breaker, who acknowledged all the jokes and criticism since her performance, worried that further “hardcore” dragging of Raygun on a global scale could have a negative impact on her mental health.
Crazy Legs, born Richard Colón, is a leading authority on all things breaking as president of the Rock Steady Crew.
Colón, 58, started breaking in the ’70s and came to prominence during the rise of hip-hop, becoming one of Rock Steady Crew’s original members as a teen and appearing in films associated with early hip-hop culture, like “Wild Style” (1982), “Style Wars” (1983) and “Beat Street” (1984).
He helped breaking go international in cities like Paris, where Gunn, aka Raygun, became the center of attention for her performance this week.
Colón pointed out that it was up to each country’s governing body or committee to determine who goes to the Olympics. He said he had never heard of Raygun before the summer games.
More: Olympics breaking debut — Raygun’s viral sensation, ‘Free Afghan Women’ moment
Gunn, 36, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, specializes in the “cultural politics of breaking.” She represented Australia in competition at the World Breaking Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
“I think on her part, she could have said ‘hey, you know what? This is out of my league, I shouldn’t be on this platform,’” Colón said of Gunn’s Olympics showing. “Or maybe Australia as a country should’ve said, ‘hey, you know girl, fall back on this one because you’re not ready yet.’”
“Maybe in her mind she’s better … That’s something for her to work out on her own,” he continued. “Do I think she deserves the amount of criticism that she’s getting? Nah. I don’t agree with anyone dragging her. I get the funny part. You know, in the United States, we are the über version of ‘Live at the Apollo.’ We see someone doing something sideways, the jokes are coming fast and hard and they’re gonna sustain for a while if they’re good. But then it gets to a point of, yo, what are we really doing to homegirl on a level of really messing with her mental health. And how we act can actually damage the girl and maybe even cause her to do damage to herself.
“I’m not with that, I’m not even here to advocate for or against her,” Colón said. “I’m just saying that at the end of the day, it is whoever’s in charge that allowed her to be on that stage. Again, my personal opinion is that she should’ve never been on that stage. That’s it, I’m gonna leave it at that. Homegirl’s been dragged globally, dragged hardcore. People should ease up because the focus at this point should be all the good that came out of it. Is there some suspect judging? Is the judging in need of serious help in terms of how they select the judges? Yeah, absolutely. There were so many things that I disagreed with, and I’m telling you right now, my credibility as a judge is dope.”
He said he wasn’t asked to be a judge at the Olympics breaking competition, but if he was, he would have declined.
Colón then addressed Raygun directly.
He said that while she doesn’t deserve to be dragged the way she has been, she should probably listen to friends if they tell her she’s not as good of a breaker as she thinks she is.
The Guardian reported that Gunn, who didn’t win any points from the judges at the Olympics, knew she couldn’t compete athletically with younger dancers.
“What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative – that’s my strength, my creativity,” she said.
“I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get that in a lifetime to do that on an international stage.
“I was always the underdog and wanted to make my mark in a different way.”
Colón preferred to recognize the skills on display from other dancers at the event.
“Some of the talent up there was amazing and certain people should’ve been in the finals,” he said.
As for the winners of Olympic breaking, Ami Yuasa of Japan took the gold in the women’s competition — the first breaking medal in history.
Dominika “Nicka” Banevic of Lithuania took the silver and Liu Qingyi, aka b-girl 671 of China, took bronze.
Gold in the men’s competition went to Phillip Kim, aka Phil Wizard of Canada, and silver went to Danis Civil, aka Dany Dann of France.
Los Angeles b-boy and Florida native Victor Montalvo’s bronze was the first breaking medal for Team USA.
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at [email protected] and followed at @AmyKup.
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