A new breakout star (or meme) is coming out of the Olympics: Raygun, the 36-year-old breakdancer from Australia.
For those who don’t know, the performer — whose real name is Rachael Gunn — was the Australian Breaking Association’s top-ranked b-girl in 2020 and 2021 and represented her country at the World Breaking Championships in 2021, 2022, and 2023. She went on to the Oceania Breaking Championships last year, thus securing her spot at the Paris Olympics! Beyond the dance floor, she is also a teacher at Macquarie University while conducting research projects on the cultural politics of break dancing.
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Wow! It’s an impressive resume, right? You would expect her to be a star at the Olympics. Well, she is. Just not in the way she may have expected! After breakdancing finally debuted at the games on Friday, she quickly went viral online, all thanks to her, um, unique moves. As Raygun went up against one of her competitors, she left viewers stunned as she waved her hands in a circle, flopped around on the ground, dragged herself across the floor, and more. At one point, she even did the sprinkler and what some say is her signature kangaroo move, in which she hopped from side to side with her wrists near her chest. You know, like a kangaroo. Take a look at a few clips from the competition (below):
Just for comparison, check out some parts of the performances from her fellow b-girls (below):
Yeah… Raygun tried her best!
And as videos of her performance circulated online, there were a lot of mixed reactions about everything from her outfit to those inneresting dance moves. While some praised Raygun for having the guts to get out there and perform, others felt a ton of “second hand embarrassment” from it! In fact, they questioned how she even qualified for the event at all! Some said:
“Props to Raygun for having the guts to go out there. But this was the most second hand embarrassment I’ve ever felt.”
“I could live all my life and never come up with anything as funny as Raygun, the 36-year-old Australian Olympic breakdancer.”
“Wondering how Raygun even *qualified* to get into the breakdancing event for the Olympics”
“Never watched breaking before but I can already tell Raygun doesn’t have a chance in this event.”
Spoiler alert: Raygun lost all of her matches against Lithuania’s Nicka, France’s Syssy and USA’s Logistx. And of course, a ton of memes about the dancer popped up on X (Twitter). See more reactions (below):
Yikes!!!
What does Raygun have to say to all the haters, though? Well, she fired back on Instagram with a quote she once said:
“Don’t be afraid to be different. Go out there and represent yourself, you never know where that’s gonna take you.”
As for those criticizing her clothes? She added on IG Stories:
“Looking forward to the same level of scrutiny on what the bboys wear tomorrow”
Clearly, she doesn’t appreciate all the online criticisms! Oof! What are YOUR thoughts on Raygun’s performance, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments below.
[Image via Rachael Gunn/Instagram]