Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, widely known as B-girl Raygun, has announced her retirement from competitive breaking following the backlash abuse and comments she received over her performances at the 2024 Paris Games.
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The 37-year-old university lecturer who was a favorite during the Paris Olympics made the headlines online after failing to get on the scoreboard in all three of her competition rounds in August with a routine that included unorthodox moves, such as the sprinkler and a kangaroo hop.
Gunn's performance in Paris sparks controversy and criticism about her qualification and inclusion in the Olympics. While speaking with a local radio station, Gunn expressed that she had no control over how people perceived her, and the level of scrutiny she faced made her reconsider her decision to continue breaking.
"I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was." "I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now. “I think the level of scrutiny that’s going to be there, and people will be filming it, and it will go online."
After the Olympics, Gunn was reported to have received a lot of violent messages and faced an anonymous petition demanding that she apologize. The petition falsely accused her and her husband of manipulating her selection at the expense of other Australian talent.
Despite many criticizing her performance on social media, saying she made a mockery of the sport, Gunn received support from others, including her fellow Australian Olympians and even the country's Prime Minister.
The sport of breaking made its Olympics debut in Paris while gathering plenty of interest, but the sport will not feature at the next Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
