"I now only break in my living room with my partner" - Raygun

By Ben Rumsby of Daily Telegraph UK

The Australian breakdancer whose controversial moves earned her a score of zero at the Olympics has announced her retirement from the sport following global mockery of her performance.

Rachael Gunn, known as “Raygun”, said she would not compete again after being made to feel “c**p” over her display at Paris 2024, which included her hopping like a kangaroo and writhing around on the floor like a snake.

She made the announcement almost two months after being ranked number one in the world by her sport, despite all three of her Olympic routines receiving zero points.

The university lecturer, 37, fell off the rankings at the end of last month and has now decided to call it a day.

Speaking on Sydney’s 2DayFM Jimmy & Nath for Breakfast show, she said: “I still break, but I don’t compete. I’m not going to compete anymore. No. No.”

Admitting she had not planned to retire prior to this year’s Games, she added: “I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now to approach a battle.

“Yeah, I mean I still dance, and I still break. But, you know, that’s like in my living room with my partner!”

‘Conspiracy theories were totally wild’
Opening up about the abuse she received over her Olympic appearance, she said: “It’s been really upsetting. I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was.”

She added: “Dancing is so much fun and it makes you feel good.”

“I don’t think people should feel c**p about the way that they dance.

“If you get out there and you have fun on the dance floor then just own it.”

She said she would not even come out of retirement if breaking – which was controversially included at Paris 2024 – had been on the Games programme at the next Olympics in Los Angeles.

“No,” she laughed. “Nooooooo.”

She also addressed some of the bogus conspiracy theories about her Paris 2024 selection, including that she had created the governing body which ran the Oceania qualifiers and that her husband – a prominent breaker and a qualified judge – was on the panel that selected her.

“Look, it’s surreal,” she said. “It’s still impossible to process. The conspiracy theories were totally wild.

She added: “But I just try and stay on the positives and that’s what gets me through. The people that have like [said], ‘You have inspired me to go out there and do something that I’ve been too shy to do. You’ve brought joy, you’ve brought laughter. You know, we’re so proud of you.

“And just like really f****** lovely things that people have written and that is just what I hold on to.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission