Rachael Gunn (Raygun) made a name for herself at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Raygun competed for Australia in “Breaking” (breakdancing), a premiere event for the Olympics. Even though many incredible athletes competed in the new event, Raygun stole the spotlight after finishing dead last with a final score of zero; the best possible score being 30. Most people thought Raygun’s sensationally horrible performance would blow over in the few weeks following the conclusion of the Olympics, but recent allegations claiming that Raygun cheated her way into the Olympics have kept all the attention on her.
Before her breakdancing debut, Gunn taught at Macquarie University in Australia. Gunn lectured on topics involving media, music, cultural studies, and communications. Gunn is also published on the art and history of Hip Hop and breakdancing, making her love for dancing evident. However, Gunn didn’t truly get involved in the sport until after her husband, Samuel Free, introduced her to the dancing world. Along with being her husband, Free is also her breaking coach. With Free as her coach, Gunn entered B-Girl tournaments in Australia, dancing in her own unique and controversial style. Once it was announced that Breaking would be a part of the 2024 Olympic Games, Gunn set her sights on becoming one of Australia’s qualifiers.
The process of qualifying for Breaking in the Olympics takes place in one of three different competitions: the World Championships, the Olympic qualifier series, or the Continental Games. Gunn competed in one of the World Championship series in Oceania. She finished first at this selection event, automatically becoming an Australian breakdancer for the 2024 Olympics. Although Gunn and the Australian Breaking Association claimed that she fairly qualified for the Olympics, there were accusations that Gunn cheated at the Oceania World Championships.
It was purported that Gunn and her husband founded the Australian Breaking Association who set up the qualifying events. This helped the couple make entering the qualifying competition harder financially and opened up roads for Gunn and her friends and family to be judges and participants at this competition. Because of this, Samuel Free was allegedly one of the judges at the Oceania selection event along with some of Gunn’s friends.
Although the general public believes that Gunn cheated her way into the Olympics, Australia’s breakdancing community whole-heartedly supports Gunn. Australia reported that the qualification process at the Oceania World Championship followed the World Dancesport Federation (WDSF) regulations and aligned with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) standards. At the Olympics, other break dancers also supported Raygun by cheering for her and at one point, crowd surfing her as if she had won the gold rather than finishing dead last.
Whether Raygun cheated her way into the Olympics or not, it was clear that her dancing skills were not up to par compared to all the other Olympic dancers. Some even blame Breaking not coming back as a sport in the 2028 Olympics on Raygun’s performance. Overall, Raygun wrongfully stole all the attention from the legitimately qualified dancers. Although every other competitor out-danced Raygun, hers will be the name everyone remembers from this one-time event at the 2024 Olympics.