‘Pretty devastating’: Raygun breaks silence over Olympic fallout
Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has broken her silence as the furore surrounding her controversial Olympic performance continues to swirl.
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Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has broken her silence, taking to Instagram in a video to address the swirling storm following her Olympic performance.
The 36-year-old Australian has been widely panned across social media as well as by celebrities including Adele and Jimmy Fallon in the fallout of her display in Paris.
Gunn’s routine included moves which mimicked a snake and a kangaroo, and she even did the sprinkler.
She lost all three of her battles 18-0.
Even her fashion was criticised as the other competitors came out in street clothes, while Gunn wore her Australian Olympic tracksuit and cap.
In the wake of Gunn’s performance, conspiracy theories have swirled online including that her selection for the Games was fixed.
With accusations flying, Gunn has taken to Instagram to set the record straight.
“Hi everyone, Raygun here. I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me, I really appreciate the positivity and I was glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives — that’s what I hoped,” the video began.
“I didn’t realise that that would also open the door to so much hate which has frankly been pretty devastating.
“While I went out there and 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 honoured 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.
“In regards to the allegations and misinformation floating around, I’d like to ask everyone to please refer to the recent statement made by the AOC as well as the posts on the Ausbreaking Instagram page as well as the WDSF Breaking for Gold page.
“Bit of a fun fact for you: there are actually no points in breaking. If you wanted 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.
“I’m going to be in Europe for a few weeks for some pre-planned down time. But I’d really like to ask the press to please stop harassing my family, my friends, the Australian breaking community, and the broader street 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.
“Thanks everyone.”
The Australian Olympic Committee released a statement on Thursday after a petition was launched calling for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the AOC to “Hold Raygun Rachel Gunn and Anna Mears (sic) accountable for unethical conduct (and) Olympic selection”.
The petition, which has over 50,000 signatures at the time of writing, was slammed by AOC CEO Matt Carroll, who called it “vexatious, misleading and bullying” as well as demanding it be taken down.
Carroll said that the petition contains “numerous falsehoods” and is designed to “engender hatred” against Dr Gunn, who he says was selected “through a transparent and independent qualification event and nomination process”.
“The AOC is particularly offended by the affront to our Chef de Mission, Anna Meares,” Mr Caroll said in the statement.
“The Australian Team Chef de Mission played no role in the qualification events nor the nomination of athletes to the AOC Selection Committee, of which the Chef and I are members.
“It is disgraceful that these falsehoods concocted by an anonymous person can be published in this way. It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory.
“We are demanding that it be removed from the site immediately.
“The petition has stirred up public hatred without any factual basis. It’s appalling.
“No athlete who has represented their country at the Olympic Games should be treated in this way and we are supporting Dr Gunn and Anna Meares at this time.
“It’s important that the community understands the facts and that people do not form opinions based on malicious untruths and misinformation.”
Raygun won her place at the Olympics when she won the Oceania Qualifying event in Sydney in October 2023.
The AOC confirmed the event was conducted under the Olympic qualification system determined by the international governing body, World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) as approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
They stated that the judging panel for the event was selected by the WDSF and consisted of nine independent international judges who were brought to Australia specifically to provide “fair, expert and transparent adjudication”.
The statement also added: “Dr Rachael Gunn holds no position with AUSBreaking or DanceSport Australia in any capacity. She is simply an athlete who competed in the qualifying event which she won. There were no appeals from any athlete.”
It also clarified that Gunn had no responsibility for funding decisions in her sport.
The AOC also clarified that the athletes “received no Federal Government Funding”, that “the AOC provided high performance funding to DanceSport Australia for Breaking, from its own financial resources” and that the AOC “fully funded the Australian Olympic Team’s campaign to Paris”.
It added: “No Federal taxpayer’s funds were sought, nor provided for the Olympic Teams’ Paris campaign. The $25 million dollar cost for the Team was met entirely by the Australian Olympic Committee.
AUSBreaking have also released a series of statements explaining the selection process for the Australian team, responding to “misinformation” about Raygun’s win at the Oceania Championships, and accusations that Raygun had set up “her own governing body for Breaking and then using her position to manipulate the selection process to her own advantage.”
The statement continued: “While AUSBreaking has had many interactions and points of contact with Raygun, at no point was she the founder, an executive, committee member or in any position of leadership. She was not involved in any decision-making over events, funding, strategy, judge selection or athlete selection.”
In regards to Raygun’s comments on scoring in breaking, nine judges assess each competitor for their technique, vocabulary, originality, execution and musicality, which are added together for an overall score.
Against the USA’s LOGISTX, in the first round, Raygun was awarded the originality points from two of the judges, but was shut-out in every other criteria.
In the second round, Raygun claimed the Japanese judges vocabulary score by 0.8 per cent, and the South Korean judges’ originality score by 0.2 per cent, while the rest went to the American.
Against France’s Syssy, Raygun was beaten in every category in both rounds, except for the German judges’ originality score in the second round.
Against Lithuania’s Nicka, in round 1, Raygun won the originality category on the German and Spanish scorecards, while the Brazilian judge had the originality as a tie.
The Lithuanian won every other category, including every category from every judge in round 2.
Originally published as ‘Pretty devastating’: Raygun breaks silence over Olympic fallout
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