Olympics 2024: Australian Exec Defends Breaker Raygun Amid Trolling

2024 Olympics: Australia’s Olympic Chief Defends Breakdancer Raygun from “Disappointing” Assaults

Rachael “Raygun” Gunn was a breaker of social media when she competed within the 2024 Olympics.

The breakdancer, an Australian college lecturer with a Ph.D. in cultural research, was the goal of hateful feedback from web trolls after her viral efficiency throughout the sport’s Olympic debut Aug. 9, throughout which she misplaced all three of her B-Lady round-robin battles. And Australia’s Olympic chief was not having it.

“I like Rachael,” Chef de mission Anna Meares mentioned in regards to the 36-year-old at a press convention Aug. 10, per Reuters. “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.”

The manager continued, “Raygun is a completely cherished member of this Olympic workforce. She has represented the Olympic workforce, 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 below the assault that she has.”

On social media, viewers had mocked Gunn’s unconventional breakdancing strikes, which included one dubbed “the kangaroo.” She later disregarded the feedback.

“Don’t be afraid to be completely different, go on the market and symbolize your self,” she wrote on Instagram. “You by no means know the place that’s gonna take you.”

The Sydney-based Macquarie College lecturer additionally famous that she “was all the time the underdog” within the competitors—which was received by Japan’s Ami Yuasa, or B-Lady Ami—and mirrored on her distinctive fashion.

“All my strikes are unique,” Gunn informed reporters after her efficiency, per Information.com.au. “I used to be by no means going to beat these ladies on what they do greatest, the dynamic and the ability strikes.”

She continued, “So I needed to maneuver in another way, be inventive and inventive as a result of what number of possibilities do you get in a lifetime to do this on a global stage?”

And talking of favor, Trolls additionally ridiculed Gunn’s outfit, a inexperienced and yellow Australian Olympic tracksuit and matching cap. The Olympian responded to her style critics, writing on her Instagram Tales, “Trying ahead to the identical degree of scrutiny on what the bboys put on tomorrow.”

Meares famous the historical past of misogyny that has been directed at feminine athletes for the previous century.

“In 2008, she was locked in a room crying being concerned in a male dominated sport as the one lady, and it took nice braveness for her to proceed on and battle for her alternative to take part in a sport that she cherished,” she mentioned about Gunn. “That received her to successful the Olympic qualifying occasion to be right here in Paris.”

Meares added, “She is the perfect breakdancer feminine that now we have for Australia.”

Look again on the most emotional moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics…