Even days after the Paris Olympics ended, people still can’t stop talking about the breaking competition at the Summer Games, especially Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s bizarre performance.
While social media has already had fun, criticizing and laughing at Gunn’s moves, one of the judges in Paris has broken their silence on why she left the Olympics with a score of zero for her routine.
During a press conference, Martin “MGbility” Gilian, said, “Again, we’re using a comparative judging system. Her competitors were just better but it doesn’t mean that she did really bad. She did her best. She was representing Australia and Oceania and did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier officially. If some people are wondering how she got into the Olympic Games, she qualified from her region.”
She added, “Unfortunately for her, the other b-girls were better. That’s why she didn’t score any votes in her rounds.”
While this response seemed to sound more diplomatic, she gave a more positive response during an interview with BBC, saying, “Breaking is all about originality and bringing something new to the table... and this is exactly what Raygun was doing.”
Fellow Australians have also come to Gunn’s defense, such as former professional cyclist Anna Meares, who told CNN, “If you don’t know Rachael’s story, in 2008, she was locked in a room crying being involved in a male-dominated sport as the only woman, and it took great courage for her to continue on and fight for her opportunity to participate in a sport that she loved.”
She continued, “That got her to winning the Olympic qualifying event to be here in Paris. She is the best breakdancer, female, that we have in Australia … She has represented the Olympic team, the Olympic spirit, with great enthusiasm and I absolutely love her courage. I love her character, and I feel very disappointed for her that she has come under the attack that she has.”
Meanwhile, social media has moved on to a new trend relating to what they saw at the Olympic breaking event. People have started to upload clips of what they thought breaking at the Olympics would look like, including scenes from movies and clips from other, more impressive breaking competitions.
Fortunately, people won’t have to wonder anymore, as breaking won’t be at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.