- Australian breakdancer has first sit-down interview since Olympics
- Raygun admits she hasn’t watched her entire routine back since the Games
- She has also apologised to Australia’s breakdancing community
In her first sit-down interview since her infamous performance at the Olympic Games, Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn has revealed that she is yet to rewatch the routine that sparked such a widespread backlash and propelled the Australian breakdancer to viral infamy.
Last month, Gunn posted to Instagram explaining how the backlash to her performance had been “devastating” and said she was heading to Europe for some “pre-planned downtime”. Now the 36-year-old is back and has been talking about her Olympic experience and the fallout from it.
Speaking to Network 10’s The Project, Gunn said she hadn’t even watched her heavily criticised routine back since the Olympics, “I have seen little bits and pieces, but I will watch it eventually.”
Likewise, Gunn also revealed that she had not seen the sketch performed about her by comedian Rachel Dratch on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
“I haven’t actually watched it the sketch because I don’t think I am in a place to watch it. I don’t know whether to hug him or yell at him.”
Gunn was also quick to defend her own pre-Olympic breaking record and her legitimacy as a breakdancer heading into the games in Paris, after a misinformation campaign was spread about her with claims she manipulated the Olympic selection process by setting up her own governing body, with her husband judging the qualification trial. These allegations were swiftly denounced by Australia’s Olympic Committee and the World DanceSport Federation.
“I was the top-ranked Australian B-girl in 2020 and 2022 and 2023. I have been invited to represent at how many World Championships… So, the record is there. But anything can happen in a battle.
“As soon as I finished my rounds, my media liaison from the AOC said, ‘Oh, there’s a bit of a storm brewing on social media. You might want to go off socials’. I didn’t understand the scale of it. I did preview some comments, and I was like, ‘Oh, no,’ and this kind of sick feeling started coming out.
“It is really sad to hear those criticisms and I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react.
“The conspiracy theories were just awful. The energy and vitriol that people had was pretty alarming.”
