How did Raygun qualify for the Olympics? Is she really the best Australia has to offer? (2024)

The 2024 Paris Olympics marked breaking's debut as a sport at the global event, with 36-year-old lecturer and breaker Rachael "Raygun" Gunn representing Australia for the first time.

Having failed to win a single point in any of her Olympic bouts, Raygun quickly became a viral sensation.

The question on many people's minds now is: How did she even qualify?

Lucas Marie is a breaker who has competed, performed, taught and judged breaking competitions over the past 25 years. He's also an anthropologist who recently co-authored an article with Gunn.

He says the answer to that question is simple.

How did Raygun qualify for the Olympics? Is she really the best Australia has to offer? (1)

"There was an Oceania qualifier in which any B-boy or B-girl from Australia [or] New Zealand could enter, and that was in Sydney in October 2023," he told ABC News.

"And leading up to that, there were a lot of other events in which breakers were competing.

"She won those battles fair and square and won the qualification in Sydney.

"And it wasn't really a surprise to anyone.

"She's been fairly consistent, winning or coming second or third at a lot of breaking events in Australia for the last five to 10 years."

Marie said there was nothing out of the ordinary about Raygun's performance.

"It's not like gymnastics where there's this kind of agreed-upon standard," he said.

"It's always had a rawness to it. It's always had an improvisational kind of quality. And I think looking different and trying different stuff has always been celebrated.

"And I think Raygun, in a way, was just expressing a core kind of hip hop trait in a way a lot of breakers do."

He described her efforts as bold.

"I thought — and this is how I judge a lot of breaking events — I thought, 'Oh, she's making some really interesting choices to mimic Australian animals.' And you can kind of see the choices that she's making in the moment."

Is she the best Australia has to offer?

Team Australia chef de mission Anna Meares insisted after Raygun's performance that she was the best breaker the country had to offer. But is this true?

How did Raygun qualify for the Olympics? Is she really the best Australia has to offer? (2)

"It's sometimes just who's performing better on the day," Marie said.

"And at the qualification event in which she won, and other events in which she's won, she performed better on that day and won the ticket.

"That doesn't mean she's the best. It doesn't really work like that.

"I think she's a great breaker. She won the qualification. She's won other events in the past, and she was a good representative for Australia at that competition."

Asked whether there were B-girls in Perth, regional Victoria or rural Brisbane who might have qualified but could not afford to travel to Sydney for the tryouts, Marie agreed this was possible.

"Of course, there's breakers all over the country that maybe should have been in that event, but they weren't."

Breaking will not carry over to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, a decision made before Raygun's battle.

Marie described this as sad.

"Maybe, based on the ratings, they'll reassess that and maybe allocate some medals to breaking," he said.

"I really hope that's the case, and I hope that for other breakers who want to compete in it as a dance sport."

Marie said that at the end of the day people should remember they were dealing with a human.

"As a friend of Rachael's, there's a human being who's getting a lot of negative attention," he said.

"I think people kind of miss that sometimes and forget the human aspect of all this."

'Toying with the culture'

Malik Dixon is an African American who has been living in Australia for more than a decade and is a Sydney University graduate.

He said Raygun made a total "mockery" out of breaking at the Olympics.

How did Raygun qualify for the Olympics? Is she really the best Australia has to offer? (3)

"She was dressed like a member of the cricket team or an Australian PE teacher, and from that point it just seemed like satire," Mr Dixon told ABC News.

"It just looked like somebody who was toying with the culture and didn't know how culturally significant it was being the first time in the Olympics and just how important it was to people who really cherish hip hop and one of the elements of hip hop, which is breakdancing.

"It made me think, was Borat her breakdancing coach?"

Mr Dixon said too many people felt entitled to African American culture.

"The African American space has been one where we've shared our community so much and without any restraints, any barriers, roadblocks, obstacles, any gatekeepers, that essentially what should have been African American cultural capital is just shared, which is cool," he said.

"We like to share, right?

"We shared 400 years of free labour.

"To see Rachael in her attempt to be a part of the culture just be grossly underwhelming made it seem like she didn't take it seriously."

Olympics body criticised for Raygun qualification

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Mr Dixon criticised the body that qualified Raygun, saying she devalued breaking with her performance.

"Whatever governing body nominated her as Australia's entrant into the Olympics either did not understand the assignment or didn't really believe in the integrity or significance of breakdancing, because if they did they would just say, rather than disrespect the culture, we're just not ready to send an applicant this year."

He said Raygun was extremely audacious and not self-aware.

"You've got to know your role, know your position, know your limitation," he said.

"And I think that part of privilege is saying that there are no limits to what I can do.

"Part of privilege is having the authority to say that there are no limits and there are no requirements, there are no prerequisites to what I can do."

Raygun's degrees do not hold much water with Mr Dixon.

"Due to consumerism, this Foundational Black American product, which is hip hop, is global," he said.

"And even people who have no connection to any African Americans or any local or regional things that come out in these songs, they have become a part of the whole experience now.

"If I came in and said that I was an authority on Greek music and I was going against the grain of what the mainstream Greek musicians thought, or the school of thought, and I've said that I was the authority, people would check me on that.

"If I had a PhD in sprinting, does that qualify me to go against Noah Lyles? No, it doesn't."

He also doubts Raygun was the best breaker Australia had to offer.

"[There's] got to be somebody out here that's better than that! The kangaroo! The sprinkler! She did the sprinkler out there, man!" he said.

Should everybody just lighten up?

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Should we lighten up? Mr Dixon does not believe so.

"Larrikinism is used as a get-out-of-jail-free card and to escape responsibility of how words or actions impact a hurt person," he said.

"But when the majority culture is offended, there's no playing around.

"This is a part of my culture, and I don't think Australians are in a place to tell me how I should feel about breakdancing being mocked on an international stage.

"People who don't have any or limited access to black people or hip hop culture now may see Rachael and her buffoonery as a representation of hip hop and black culture.

"People who were already side-eyeing breakdancing as an Olympic sport, Rachael Gunn has put the nail in that coffin.

"This might be the most viral clip of the whole Olympics. From a comedy standpoint, she's got it, but from an Olympics perspective, its regressive."

How did Raygun qualify for the Olympics? Is she really the best Australia has to offer? (2024)

FAQs

How did Raygun qualify for the Olympics? ›

You can judge for yourself: in the Oceania Championships Raygun won which secured her spot in the Olympics, she netted 51 overall points to 50 scored by her opponent Holy Molly (Molly Chapman). The crucial final points came in this battle when the pair faced off, with Raygun winning two of three rounds.

How did Raygun get on the Olympics? ›

How did Raygun qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics? Raygun was the top-ranked B-girl in the Australian Breaking Association in 2020 and 2021, representing the country at the World DanceSport Federation Breaking Championships in 2021 through 2023 and winning the WDSF Oceania Breaking Championships in 2023.

How did the Australian breakdancer qualify for the Olympics? ›

Wollongong's Molly Chapman was defeated by Gunn in the WDSF Oceania Championships held at Sydney's Town Hall last October to book her place to the Olympics. It wasn't the first attempt either had to qualify for Paris after Chapman finished 79th and Gunn was 64th out of 80 entrants at the World Championships.

Why does Australia do so well in the Olympics? ›

One of the major reasons for a high medal tally at the Olympics has been an AOC which has raised significant amounts of money to fund its Olympic teams and also to get into the mainstream of public interest. An ever increasing budget by the AOC has seen it invest money in large quantities into its Olympic program.

Is the Australian break dancer for real? ›

According to her Olympics biography, Gunn is a former jazz and ballroom dancer who entered the sport of breaking through her husband, Samuel, who had been breaking for the past decade. Gunn started breaking in her mid-20s and went on to become the top-ranked b-girl in Australia in 2020 and 2021.

How does a sport qualify for the Olympics? ›

The Olympic Charter indicates that in order to be accepted, a sport must be widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents and by women in no fewer than 40 countries and on three continents.

How did Raygun get started? ›

Mike started RAYGUN in college when his last hope of having a respectable life was extinguished. After selling t-shirts on the street, the store opened in downtown Des Moines in 2005 to moderate fanfare. RAYGUN Iowa city opened in 2010. In 2014 we added a store in Kansas City, and in 2016 we expanded to Cedar Rapids.

How was the Raygun made? ›

The document reveals that the Ray Gun was developed by Dr. Ludvig Maxis of Group 935 and was based on designs seized from the Rising Sun Facility in Japan. It is powered by a combination of Element 115 and Cold Fusion Technology, creating "Cold Cell Batteries" to be inserted into the gun as ammunition.

Is breaking removed from the 2028 Olympics? ›

Breaking made its Olympic debut at the Paris Games in 2024. Despite breaking being a breakout hit of the Paris Games last week, the sport will not be returning to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. The decision was actually made years ago not to include breaking.

How was Raygun selected? ›

According to AUSBreak's statement, judges at the Oceanic qualification event “are all highly respected in their respective communities and in the international Breaking scene.” The statement clarified that Raygun and her fellow Australian competitor Jeff Dunne were selected to represent the country “based solely on ...

Why was Raygun chosen? ›

Their selection was based solely on their performance in their battles on that day. "In the lead-up to Paris, Raygun used her platform as the Australian Breaking representative to consistently advocate in the media for breaking's history, artistic and athletic values, and its cultural origins."

How did the Australian breakdancer get in? ›

She secured a spot by winning the 2023 Oceania Breaking Championship, and she represented Australia at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships. Her style wasn't enough to pass the group stage in Paris, but she is undoubtedly a qualified representative for her region.

What sport is Australia best at in the Olympics? ›

Most of Australia's medals at the Olympics have come in swimming, athletics, cycling and rowing. Swimming alone has earned Australia a record 71 Olympic gold medals. Australia boast a rich history at the Olympics, having competed and won medals at each of the 29 editions of the modern Summer Games to date.

What is Australia's most successful Olympics? ›

Most gold medals

By this measure, Paris 2024 was Australia's most successful Olympics. Our 18 golds breaks the previous record of 17 set in Athens (2004) and Tokyo (2021).

Why are Australians so athletic? ›

The popularity of sport in Australia can partly be attributed to a warm climate that encourages people to get outdoors and be active. Sport also enables well-loved national values like 'mateship', 'having a go' and 'egalitarianism' (the assumption that that all people are equal), to be played out.

How did biathlon become an Olympic sport? ›

The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (founded 1948) worked for the development of both sports and instituted an annual world championship for the biathlon in 1958. The biathlon was added to the Winter Olympics program as an official men's event in 1960.

What is the story behind Raygun? ›

Rachael Gunn, known as "Raygun," is an Australian B-girl (break-girl) who competed at the Olympics. She lost three battles in the round-robin part of the competition, but her moves went viral online.

How do skiers qualify for the Olympics? ›

Advancement through the U.S. Ski & Snowboard's Athlete development pipeline is based on tangible, objective selection criteria. At each level, from grassroots club-level events to the Olympics, athletes advance based on athletic performance in events, as well as on ranking or points lists.

Who qualifies to participate in the Olympic Games? ›

THE OLYMPIC GAMES ARE RESTRICTED TO AMATEURS

They assemble amateurs of all nations in fair and equal competition. No discrimination is allowed against any country or person on grounds of race, religion or political affiliations. Only persons who are amateurs within the definition laid down in art.

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