Viral Australian breakdancer Raygun shows off her moves again in impromptu dance off ahead of closing ceremony
12 August 2024, 13:21 | Updated: 12 August 2024, 14:04
Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn - also known as Raygun - has been captured showing off the moves that sent her viral in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
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Gunn was Australia's representative in breaking's Olympic debut and quickly became a meme online following her much-ridiculed routine that featured a "kangaroo dance".
The 36-year-old is a professor with a Ph.D in cultural studies but she failed to impress the judges as she scored zero points across all three round-robin battles.
She has however become extremely popular online and a large group gathered to see Raygun showing off her viral shapes once again ahead of the closing ceremony in Paris.
A TikTok captured and posted by Australian Olympic rower Jean Mitchell shows the viral dancer handing her bag to a friend before performing parts of her famous routine.
Gunn is cheered and clapped on by the group watching on which appears to contain a number of other athletes.
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Despite her low score, head judge Martin Gilian has since given Gunn praise her "originality" and "bringing something new to the table".
"She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was a kangaroo," he said.
"We have five criteria in the competitive judging system and just her level was maybe not as high as the other competitors," Gilian said.
"But again, that doesn't mean that she did really bad. She did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier... unfortunately for her, the other b-girls were better."
Gunn, who was around twice the age of the other competitors, said: "I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best - their power moves. What I bring is creativity."
Sergei Nifontov, general secretary of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) said the organisation had been in direct contact with Gunn to offer mental health support from a safeguarding officer after the attention she garnered online.
"We are aware about what has happened, especially on social media, and definitely we should put the safety of the athlete, in this case, mental safety in first place," he said.
