Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn has set the record straight on shocking claims that she would be retiring from the sport following her controversial Olympic performance.
Appearing on The Today Show, the B-girl revealed that eulogies for her breakdancing career were unwarranted and that she was “never going to stop” competing.
Citing an appearance on 2dayFM, ‘Raygun’ told host Sarah Abo that her comments had been misconstrued.
“So I was talking, you know, on 2dayFM about how I’m not going to do certain competitions anymore, which didn’t seem like such a big deal because breaking is not going to be in the Olympics (at LA 2028) anyway,” she said.
“But, you know, it just caught on to the news cycle.”
As Sarah pressed ‘Raygun’ to confirm the claims once and for all, RayGun confirmed that no one would ever stop her breaking.
The update comes mere days after the viral sensation appeared on stage with Tones and I during the Melbourne leg of her headline Australian tour.
Tones and I shared a heartfelt message to Raygun alongside the video from the night: “Raygun [is] the most beautiful kindest full of life human I have met,” she wrote.
“It was an honour to celebrate you last night. Thank you for sharing the stage with me and bringing smiles to so many faces. You always have a friend in me.”
Where is Raygun now?
The Aussie breakdancer could never have predicted that when she competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games she would become a global social media sensation.
It wasn’t just her first chance to represent her country in a sport she was so passionate about, but the first time breakdancing was represented on the sporting program at an Olympic Games.
So with the hopes of a nation riding on her, and fellow breakdancer Jeff Dunne’s shoulders, the 37-year-old set out to make her mark, copping a significant amount of backlash in the process.
After her one (and only) performance at the Olympic Games went viral for what she herself has described as “wacky moves”, the Sydney local took a sabbatical from social media as a barrage of online criticism came her way.
From impersonators to millions of people mocking her now infamous ‘kangaroo hop’ dance move, to becoming a Halloween costume and being made fun of by likes of Jimmy Fallon, it seems that just about everyone had something to say about ‘Raygun.’
Despite this, however, she says they’re laughing with her, and not at her.
Speaking with Stellar magazine in October 2024, the Macquarie University academic said that it had been “hard to process” the past few months.
“My whole world has changed. My identity has changed. My relationships have changed, for better or for worse.”
“It’s in times like these that you find out who your real friends are, unfortunately. And because things are still changing, it’s just impossible to wrap your head around.”
While she is trying to look for the positives in her rise to global infamy (which has resulted in her own celebrity fan club of which Sir Richard Branson and British pop star Boy George are members), she says it’s still been a journey finding her happy place again.
“People really have tried to shame me,” she told the publication.
“This is a process that I’m working through, trying to resist that shame,” she added.
“I’m working through mental health stuff, seeing my psychologist, doing exercise when I don’t feel like it, doing breathing exercises. (My mental health) is now something that I have to look after — it’s being exhausted.”
Despite this, Rachael says she has big plans for the future and is working hard to “rebuild” her image – including a rumoured appearance on the 2025 season of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Australia.
