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Rachael Louise Gunn (born 2 September 1987), known competitively as Raygun, is an Australian academic and competitive breakdancer. In September 2024, she became ranked as the world number 1, by the World DanceSport Federation.[1] She is a lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language, and Literature at Macquarie University Faculty of Arts.
Rachael Gunn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rachael Louise Gunn 2 September 1987 Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia |
| Other names | Raygun |
| Spouse |
Samuel Free (m. 2018) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Macquarie University (BA, PhD) |
| Thesis | Deterritorializing Gender in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene: A B-girl's Experience of B-boying (2017) |
| Doctoral advisor | Diane Hughes |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Cultural studies |
| Institutions | Macquarie University |
| Main interests | |
| Website | researchers |
Gunn gained media attention after competing in breaking at the 2024 Summer Olympics, the sport's debut at the Games. She received a score of zero in competition against three opponents and did not progress past the first round. After her performance, Gunn became the subject of widespread criticism and online bullying. An anonymously filed petition on the website Change.org calling for an investigation into Gunn's position on the Australian Olympic Team was removed after being reported by the Australian Olympic Committee for containing misinformation and defamatory content.
Rachael Louise Gunn[2] was born on 2 September 1987[3] in Hornsby, New South Wales.[4] She danced as a child, and was trained in ballroom, tap, and jazz styles.[4][5]
Gunn attended Barker College[6] before enrolling at Macquarie University, where she completed a bachelor's degree in contemporary music in 2009 and a PhD in cultural studies in 2017.[7] Her PhD thesis, titled Deterritorializing Gender in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene: A B-girl's Experience of B-boying, explored "the intersection of gender and Sydney's breaking culture". Her doctoral advisor was Diane Hughes.[2][4][8]
Early career
Before breakdancing, Gunn practised jazz, tap, and ballroom dancing, and competed in the last.[9] Her boyfriend, later husband, had been breakdancing for 10 years and encouraged her to try it.[3] She began breakdancing in the early 2010s when she was in her mid-twenties.[4][5] Gunn paused her competitive breakdancing career to complete her PhD, returning to competitions in 2018.[5]
Gunn performs under the nickname Raygun, a portmanteau of Rachael Gunn, which is sometimes prefixed with the descriptor b-girl.[7] She is coached by her husband, Samuel Free,[10] and says that she trains three to four hours a day.[11]
Gunn ranked 2nd in the Australian Open B-girl Ranking in 2022[12] and topped the ranking in 2023 in Australia[13] as well as winning or coming in the top three at many Australian breaking events over the past five to ten years.[14] She represented Australia at the World Breaking Championships in Paris (2021), Seoul (2022), and Leuven (2023).[7][4] In 2023, she won the Oceania Breaking Championships, securing her spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics according to the qualifying rules.[4][5]
2024 Olympics
In the breaking event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Gunn did not receive any points from the judges in each of her three round-robin battles against her opponents, losing 18–0 in all three rounds.[a][16][17] She was eliminated at the round-robin stage after being beaten by Logistx (US), Syssy (France), and Nicka (Lithuania).[18][19] As her performance and outfit did not match her competitors' street style, Gunn was subject to widespread criticism online.[20][21][22] In response, Gunn shared a quote on Instagram: "don't be afraid to be different, go out there and represent yourself, you never know where that's gonna take you".[23] She said she could not compete athletically with her younger rivals,[24] and said she instead wanted to "move differently, be artistic and creative. ... I was always the underdog and wanted to make my mark in a different way".[9]
Team Australia's Chef de Mission, Anna Meares, later issued a statement supporting Gunn and condemning what she called "trolls and keyboard warriors".[25] Martin Gilian, the Head Olympic breaking judge, said that Raygun had done exactly what breaking is supposed to be about: "originality and bringing something new to the table and representing your country or region," which he said she achieved with her kangaroo hop.[26] He added that the breaking community stood behind her. The World DanceSport Federation also offered the support of their safeguarding officer in case Gunn was experiencing mental health problems due to the media attention.[27][28][29]
In the aftermath of the event, false rumours spread that Gunn's husband, Free, was a national coach involved in the Australian team selection and a judge in the Oceania Breaking Championships through which Gunn qualified. However, the Oceania qualifier did not have Free nor any other Australians on its judging panel, used the same rules as the Paris games, and was open to everyone.[30]
An anonymous petition on Change.org, calling for an investigation into the conduct of Gunn, Anna Meares, and the selection process, garnered thousands of signatures. This petition aimed to hold Gunn accountable for "unethical conduct" at the games, also accusing Raygun of "manipulating the selection process" while calling for a public apology from both Gunn and Meares.[31][32] The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) chief executive Matt Carroll demanded the petition be withdrawn, saying it amounted to "bullying and harassment and is defamatory" and that the AOC was especially offended by the insult to Meares. It stated that the Australian selection was made by nine independent international judges and that Gunn was nominated legitimately by DanceSport Australia to the AOC for selection. Gunn is not any kind of officeholder with AUSBreaking nor DanceSport, and no athlete appealed against her selection.[33][34] The petition was withdrawn by Change.org on 15 August 2024.[35]
On the same day, Gunn posted a video on social media talking about the effect that the trolling expressed on social media had had on her and her family and asked the media to stop harassing her family, friends, and the Australian and broader breaking community. She said she had taken her entry seriously and worked hard to prepare.[35]
Gunn's breaking performances were satirized by Rachel Dratch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, further establishing Gunn's virality.[36]
Post-Olympics and retirement
In September 2024, she became ranked the world number 1 by the World DanceSport Federation as a result of many participants' ranking points expiring due to the 52 weeks ending and the Olympics and its qualifying circuit events not contributing to the ranking.[1]
News.com.au reported in October 2024 that though Gunn gained substantial notoriety at the Olympics for herself and for the sport, other national and international competitors have been trying to distance themselves from her.[37]
On 6 November 2024, Gunn announced her retirement from competitive breaking, citing the viral response to her Olympic performance.[38] She stated that the prospect of being scrutinized by so many online changed her experience of competing and going forward, she will dance mostly for personal enjoyment.[39]
Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University Faculty of Arts in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature.[7][4]
Her research focuses on breakdancing, street dance, hip-hop, youth culture, and gender in politics. She is a member of the Macquarie University Performance and Expertise Research Centre.[7]
Gunn met her husband, fellow breakdancer Samuel Free, at university in 2008.[10] They married in January 2018.[40]
Journal articles
- Gunn, Rachael (2016). "The 'systems of relay' in doing cultural studies: experimenting with the 'Body without Organs' in b-girling practice". Continuum. 30 (2): 183–194. doi:10.1080/10304312.2016.1143194. ISSN 1030-4312.
- Gunn, Rachael (2022). "Where the #bgirls at? politics of (in)visibility in breaking culture". Feminist Media Studies. 22 (6): 1447–1462. doi:10.1080/14680777.2021.1890182. ISSN 1468-0777.
Book chapters
- Gunn, Rachael (2019). "Nocturnal Paradox: How Breakdancing Reveals the Potentials of the Night". In Stahl, Geoff; Bottà, Giacomo (eds.). Nocturnes: Popular Music and the Night. Pop Music, Culture and Identity. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 147–162. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-99786-5. ISBN 978-3-319-99785-8.
- A note on judging: "A panel of nine judges score each battle and every round based on five criteria: technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality. Each category accounts for 20% of the final score. Judges use a digital slider to score battles. The slider shifts in real-time toward the breaker who is outperforming the opposing dancer in a specific category". Each round leaves one of the dancers victorious.[15] For a fuller explanation of how points are allocated, see here, here or the official Breaking Results book.
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