Raygun predicted what would happen after her Olympics routine one year before she did it
A resurfaced interview has revealed how Raygun seemed to be aware of what would happen following her breakdancing performance at the Olympics.
Raygun, real name Rachael Gunn, performed at the 2024 Paris Olympics a few weeks ago, but has since gone viral after she scored a grand total of zero points for her routine.
Following her performance, Raygun was ridiculed on social media, with some claiming she was 'hopping like a kangaroo' and 'writhing around like a snake' during the heat.
Advert
Raygun has since shared a statement on what happened, thanking fans for their support but also admitting she was 'devastated' over the comments online.
Raygun said: "I didn't realise that would also open the door to so much hate which has frankly been pretty devastating.
"I went out there and I had fun. I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off working for the Olympics. I gave my all, truly.
"Im honoured to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team and breaking Olympic debut. What the other athletes have achieved has been phenomenal."
Weeks on from the performance and a resurfaced academic paper published 12 months prior to the Olympics has revealed that Raygun actually highlighted the potential social media storm that followed her performance.
In her paper, titled 'The Australian breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification' one interviewee, Lowe Napalan said: "Good thing about the Olympics, and the best thing, is the media attention.
"So, we can do a repeat of, let's say, what happened with […] Rock Steady [Crew], the whole media boom, and then everyone started breaking.
"So there's potential that that can happen again with the Olympics, which is what we really want to utilise to get those numbers in the community."
Following the controversy around her inclusion in Australia's breaking squad, many people wondered how nobody close to Gunn staged an intervention.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC before the Games, Gunn said her family would have preferred a different dance style.
"They were happy that I was dancing again since so much time and money was spent when I was younger, but they would have preferred for me to take on a more feminine dance style," she said.
"My coach has criticised me for being a little too cautious in breaking, but it has paid off. I've never been seriously injured in breaking - only twinges that were very easily fixed by physiotherapy.
"When I first started, I didn't have the upper body strength, or the strength at all, required to break and that's something I'm still building over the last 13 years."
Since competing in the Olympics, Gunn has been accused of 'manipulating' her way into the Paris Games, with a petition regarding her selection even circulating online.
These claims have since been disproven and the petition taken down.
Lucy Devine