Breaking, more commonly known as breakdancing, made its debut as an Olympic sport this week at the 2024 Paris Games, with 17 B-girls and 16 B-boys making their way to France with the hopes of securing a gold medal.
On the first day of competition, viewers from across the world were treated to a different kind of introduction — not to the sport itself, but one of its athletes.
Though she was a long way from winning a gold medal, likely no breaker Friday captured the imagination of the international audience more than Rachael Gunn, an Australian breaker who competes under the name “Raygun.”
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Raygun went 0-3 in her head-to-head competitions Friday — falling to Logistx of the United States, Syssy of France and eventual silver medalist Nicka of Lithuania by a combined score of 54-0 — and failed to record a point across those three matches, but for what she lacked in smoothly executed moves, she made up for in the hearts she won over with her demeanor.
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Raygun’s short-lived Olympic experience made her a celebrity, one who people became even more enamored with once they learned more about her.
The 36-year-old Gunn, who was one of the oldest qualifiers in the breaking competition, has a PhD in cultural studies and is a college professor at Macquarie University in Sydney. Her research focuses primarily on breaking, street dance and hip-hop culture while her work draws on “cultural theory, dance studies, popular music studies, media, and ethnography.”
“In 2023, many of my students didn’t believe me when I told them I was training to qualify for the Olympics, and were shocked when they checked Google and saw that I qualified,” Gunn said to CNBC earlier this month.
Unlike much of her competition in Paris, Gunn took up break dancing later in life. She didn’t enter her first battle until 2012.
On Friday, a person who began the day as a little-known academic ended it as a viral worldwide sensation.
Here’s a sampling of the reaction to Raygun and her performance:
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Social media reacts to Raygun’s breaking performance at 2024 Paris Olympics
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