We’re two days away from the end of Paris 2024 Olympics and a new main character has graced our FYP. If you loved pommel horse guy, or the muffin man, you’ll be overjoyed to meet the latest Olympic’s main character: Australia’s best female breaker.
For the first time, breakdancing — officially known as breaking — is making a cameo at the summer Olympics in an effort to appeal to a ~younger audience.~ And so I guess it’s thanks to International Olympic Committee that the world was introduced to Olympian Rachael Gunn, aka Raygun. Despite losing all of her matches by scoring zero points against any of her rivals, the internet has made her a breakout breaking star thanks to her sweet moves, such as my personal favorite: the kangaroo.
Who Is Raygun?
The 36-year-old professional breaker, known as B-Girl Raygun, is also a lecturer at Sydney’s Macquarie University with a Ph.D in Cultural Studies. She is literal a doctor of breakdancing. Her research focuses on hip hop culture and the intersection of gender stereotypes in breaking and similar dance styles. And in case you didn’t trust her credentials as a breaker due to the unfortunate clip that’s circulating online, she did represent Australia at the World Breaking Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. She even won last year’s Oceania Breaking Championships, which is what secured her position as her country’s Olympic b-girl.
On Friday she didn’t advance to the later rounds of the competition but certainly left it all out on the field. “The younger competitors are great in their strength, fitness, and explosiveness. But the older ones bring a different level of maturity to the dance,” she told CNBC, leading up to the competition. “My specialty is style and creativity, not dynamics or power moves like many other dancers.”
One thing is for sure, she accomplished what she set out to do: “I hope people are still wowed by what I bring since it’s something different.” I know we’re all still reeling from the performance.
The Funniest Raygun Memes
I could live all my life and never come up with anything as funny as Raygun, the 36-year-old Australian Olympic breakdancer pic.twitter.com/1uPYBxIlh8
— mariah (@mariahkreutter) August 9, 2024
What my nephew does after telling all of us to “watch this” pic.twitter.com/366LjIRl4j
— Liz Charboneau (@lizchar) August 9, 2024
me tryna get the duvet off when i’m too hot at night #olympics pic.twitter.com/NM4Fb2MEmX
— robyn (@robynjournalist) August 9, 2024
screaming at the australian breakdancer getting 0 votes (out of 36) across 4 rounds lmao
— sextina acab-fina (@giltcomplex) August 9, 2024
There is no way I laugh harder for the rest of 2024 than after watching a 36 year old Australian college professor named Raygun “breakdance” against teenagers pic.twitter.com/OkN5OgqTNY
— Your Best Friend’s Black Friend (@IAmStatMatt) August 9, 2024
There has not been an Olympic performance this dominant since Usain Bolt’s 100m sprint at Beijing in 2008. Honestly, the moment Raygun broke out her Kangaroo move this competition was over! Give her the #breakdancing gold 🥇
pic.twitter.com/6q8qAft1BX— Trapper Haskins (@TrapperHaskins) August 9, 2024
I’d like to personally thank Raygun for making millions of people worldwide think “huh, maybe I can make the Olympics too” pic.twitter.com/p5QlUbkL2w
— Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) August 9, 2024
my dog on the lawn 30 seconds after i’ve finished bathing him pic.twitter.com/A5aqxIbV3H
— David Mack (@davidmackau) August 9, 2024
