Raygun — the breaker (a.ok.a. breakdancer) who went viral on social media for her distinctive dance strikes on the 2024 Paris Olympics debut of breaking as an occasion — has spoken out in opposition to her critics.
In an interview with ESPN revealed on Saturday, Aug. 10, the 36-year-old Australian competitor (whose actual title is Rachael Gunn) defended her unconventional dance strikes that price her three spherical robin-style battles on Friday, telling the outlet that she is unfazed by the mockery she acquired on social media.
“I used to be by no means going to beat these women on what they do finest — their energy strikes,” Raygun mentioned of her three opponents: Workforce USA’s b-girl Logistx, 21, France’s Syssy, 16, and Lithuania’s Nicka, 17. “What I deliver is creativity.”
Many Olympic viewers on social media joked throughout Raygun’s competitions on Friday that her strikes regarded “kangaroo”-like and resembled “what my nephew does after telling all of us to ‘watch this.’ ”
“All of my strikes are unique,” Raygun informed ESPN. “Creativity is basically essential to me. I’m going on the market, and I present my artistry. Typically it speaks to the judges, and generally it does not. I do my factor, and it represents artwork. That’s what it’s about.”
Moreover, Australia’s chef de mission Anna Meares spoke out on Raygun’s behalf, calling a number of the criticism she confronted sexist for her work in such a “male-dominated sport.”
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“I like Rachael, and I believe that what has occurred on social media with trolls and keyboard warriors, and taking these feedback and giving them airtime, has been actually disappointing,” Meares mentioned on Saturday, per ESPN. “Raygun is a completely liked member of this Olympic staff. She has represented the Olympic staff, the Olympic spirit with nice enthusiasm. And I completely love her braveness. I like her character, and I really feel very upset for her, that she has come underneath the assault that she has.”
In response to her Olympics profile, Raygun is a college lecturer in Sydney and was a jazz and ballroom dancer earlier than she acquired into breaking in her 20s. She even research breaking in her work as a professor — based on her biography web page for Macquarie College, she research “the cultural politics of breaking.”
“In 2008, she was locked in a room crying being concerned in a male-dominated sport as the one girl, and it took nice braveness for her to proceed on and battle for her alternative to take part in a sport that she liked,” Meares added, per ESPN. “That acquired her to profitable the Olympic qualifying occasion to be right here in Paris. She is the very best breakdancer feminine that we’ve for Australia.”
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