Raygun apologizes to breakdance community for backlash to her Paris Olympic performance
By Catherine Nicholls, CNN
(CNN) — Rachael Gunn, the Olympic breaker who went viral for her dance performance at the Paris Games last month, has apologized to the breaking community for the backlash she brought upon it.
In an interview with Australian current affairs show “The Project” broadcast Wednesday, Gunn, widely known as Raygun, said she is “very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced” as a result of her performance.
The 37-year-old university lecturer did not register a single point across her Olympic battles against breakers from the United States, France and Lithuania in August, losing 18-0 in all three rounds.
Her performance consisted of moves including a kangaroo hop, a backward roll and various contortions with her body while lying or crawling on the floor.
In her interview with “The Project,” Gunn said her breaking style is “just a different approach” to the sport.
Gunn’s breaking at the Olympics drew attention from across the globe. Singer Adele took time out of her concert in Munich to question whether the whole thing was a “joke,” while actress Rachel Dratch imitated her on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
In Wednesday’s interview, Gunn said she hasn’t seen the Fallon sketch, but mentioned that she doesn’t know “whether to hug (Fallon) or yell at him, because what a platform he ended up giving me.”
“It kind of feels like a really weird dream that I’ve been having that I’m going to wake up from at any moment,” she added.
Gunn said she qualified for the Paris Olympics by winning the Oceania championships, but added that she was “super nervous” to compete in the 2024 Games.
“I knew that I was going to get beaten, and I knew that people were not going to understand my style and what I was going to do,” she said. “The odds were against me, that’s for sure.”
Gunn told “The Project” that she won’t be participating in any breaking competitions for a while, as she wants to avoid the spotlight.
“I would much rather focus on the positives out of this, and the positive responses and the joy that I brought people,” she said. “It’s going out there and just having fun and going as hard as you can in the face of, you know, losing.”
Breakdancing made its Olympic debut at the 2024 Paris Games but will not feature in Los Angeles in 2028.
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CNN’s George Ramsay contributed reporting.
