After Olympic breaker Rachael “Raygun” Gunn made the whole world collectively think, “Y’know, I’m pretty sure I could do that too,” during her viral Paris Games performance, some speculated how exactly she came to be Australia’s representative.
One theory emerged that Gunn and her husband, Samuel Free, essentially rigged the system to ensure she would advance to the Olympics.
A change.org petition claiming Gunn “manipulated” the qualification process even generated more than 40,000 signatures, per ESPN, before being taken down after the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) wrote to the website demanding the removal of the petition for containing false allegations.
“(AOC CEO) Mr (Matt) Carroll says the petition contains numerous falsehoods designed to engender hatred against an athlete who was selected in the Australian Olympic Team through a transparent and independent qualification event and nomination process,” the AOC’s statement said.
The conspiracy theory following Raygun since her notoriously awful performance took off after being promoted by X account @AutismCapital, which describes itself as “Citizen journalism with a humorous flair,” and has since been viewed 3.2 million times as of Friday morning.
The theory alleges the Olympics outsourced the qualification process to the World DanceSports Federation (WDSF) and then DanceSports Australia, which then, upon Gunn’s advice, passed the baton to the Australian Breaking Association, alleged to have been founded by Gunn and Free.
It continues that few women came to the competition that Gunn won, adding that Free became an Australian coach.
“Basically, Rachael elects herself as the Australian Olympic breakdancing rep, and the rest history,” the post read.
However, the allegations are false.
The community note on the aforementioned tweet debunks the allegations, stating: “Neither Rachael Gunn or her husband are founders of the Australian Breaking Association (Founded by Lowe Napalan). They are not involved in the ABA leadership in any capacity.”
A link to the Australian Breaking Association’s charity site does not list Raygun or Free in the “responsible people” section.
The AOC outlined the process for Gunn’s inclusion, stating the Oceania qualifying event she won in October 2023 “was conducted under the Olympics qualification system,” as set by the WDSF and approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Said event included nine “independent international judges” approved by WSDF and Free was not one of those judges, and the event operated under WSDF rules.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the event had an open registration and 15 women entered, with Raygun besting three competitors in the final round to secure her spot.
“I won the Oceania qualifier, and by winning that competition, I got the direct spot to Paris,” Raygun told the outlet before the Olympics. “That was a really intense, really stressful but really amazing competition.”
The AOC also stated that both Raygun and Free do not have a role with the Australian Breaking Association or DanceSport Australia, and the former does not have a say in funding.
“Dr. Rachael Gunn in winning the Oceania Breaking Championship in October 2023 was legitimately nominated by DanceSport Australia to the AOC for selection in the Australian Olympic Team,” the AOC’s statement read.
Raygun discussed the controversy Thursday and how the negativity has affected her.
“I didn’t realize that that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram account. “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 my all, truly. I’m honored to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team and to be part of breaking’s Olympic debut. What the other athletes have achieved has just been phenomenal.”
