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Raygun’s break-dancing performances at the Paris Olympics will be her last.
The Australian break dancer announced Wednesday that she will no longer compete in the sport after receiving backlash from her performance in the Olympics.
“I’m not going to compete anymore, no,” Gunn told 2DayFM (h/t ESPN). “I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now to approach a battle. Yeah, I mean I still dance, and I still break. But, you know, that’s like in my living room with my partner. It’s been really upsetting. I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was.”
As breaking made its Olympic debut in Paris over the summer, Raygun quickly became the face of the sport, but not exactly for the reasons she hoped. Moves like her signature kangaroo bounce were the subject of memes and jokes on social media throughout the Olympics.
There were also theories that Raygun made her way to the Olympics illegitimately as an online petition accusing her of manipulating the qualification procedure received 50,000 signatures, per ESPN. The Australian Olympic Committee requested the removal of the petition and refuted a claim that her husband and coach, Samuel Free, was involved in her selection.
“The conspiracy theories were totally wild,” Raygun said. “But I just try and stay on the positives and that’s what gets me through.
“The people that have like [said], ‘You have inspired me to go out there and do something that I’ve been too shy to do. You’ve brought joy, you’ve brought laughter. You know, we’re so proud of you.'”
“It was disappointing that it was decided before we’d even had a chance to show it so I think that was possibly a little premature,” Rachael Gunn said in August. “I wonder if they’re kicking themselves now, particularly because they’ve got some great American breakers who could totally be on the podium. But it’s not the end for breaking, the breaking culture is so strong.”
As Raygun’s Olympic breaking career comes to an end, so does the sport at the games, at least for now. There’s still a chance it could be one of the sports included in the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane as sports are often added and dropped depending on the year.
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