Australia’s Olympic athletes have given break dancer Raygun their full support and urged her to stay strong
Australia’s Rachael Gunn – aka Raygun – has been the subject of global attention ever since her break dancing performance at the Paris Olympics. It has led to savage condemnation, but her fellow Aussie Olympians are right behind her.
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RAYGUN left her Olympic bubble last night and entered the firestorm of a world bitterly divided over what to make of her.
University professor Rachael Gunn left the Olympic village but did not join 120 athletes on the Qantas charter flight home from Paris to Australia as she will stay in Europe for private commitments.
Eventually she will return to Australia having attracted more global attention than any of Australia’s 18 gold medal winning teams or individuals.
A few weeks ago when she left Australia for the Olympics barely any Australians had heard of Rachael “Raygun’’ Gunn.
But Raygun became the breaker who broke the internet after a performance at the Paris Olympics which drew savage condemnation, a wave of genuine sympathy and very little in between.
She will return to Australia as a global figure of interest who, after being mocked and derided, has at least put a global focus on her sport breaking.
On Friday night after she performed she had fewer than 4000 followers on Instagram and that figure has multiplied almost 20 fold to 77,000.
Boxer Harry Garside has urged Raygun to stay strong and ignore the outside noise.
“I live my life by the Theodore Roosevelt quote “The Man in the Arena” and I think as long as you’re getting in the arena, it doesn’t really matter about the result,’’ Garside said.
“I think we all can take something from that. There’s so many people in the world who don’t get in the arena who sit there sitting in their armchairs and critique people in the arena.’’
“I think I’m Raygun or anyone who’s actually in the arena doing the stuff is the Australian spirit, right? I think we all got around her last night. It was amazing to see her dance and then that whole vibe was fantastic. So I think, we showed Australian spirit in that moment too which is nice.’’
Another boxer, Callum Peters, added: “They’re just jealous people. It’s a shame what people do and what people think but look where she is, she’s an Olympian so well done, good on ya. Everyone’s backing her up.’’
Gold medal winning skateboarder Keegan Palmer saw the light hearted side.
“Holy shit, I saw those videos dude, that was pretty funny,’’ Palmer said.
“(It was) pretty interesting, who cares really. She’s out there having fun, that’s all that really matters.’’
Breaking will be ditched from the Olympic schedule in Los Angeles in four years time – a curious move given it originated in the United States in the 1970s – but the sport has not given up hope of returning in Brisbane in 2032.
Breaking Federation president Shawn Tay said being included in the Olympics had been a boon for his sport and it would fight hard to stay there.
“Right from the beginning we were warned that some of the breakers — the top breakers — may not take part,” Tay said.
“But now we have achieved to bring them all in — we have all the best breakers. Now they are fighting for the glory of their country — it’s a totally different thing. And that’s actually pushed them to improve so much, to work so hard in a more scientific way.’’
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Originally published as Australia’s Olympic athletes have given break dancer Raygun their full support and urged her to stay strong
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