The strikes have been downright dizzying on the Olympics debut of a brand new occasion in Paris on Friday: breaking, extra generally known as “breakdancing.” As with different athletic competitions launched to the video games in recent times, there was loads of debate as as to if breaking — right here organized right into a match of head-to-head dance battles noticed by a panel of judges — may even be referred to as a sport. However viewers definitely vibed with the personalities who confirmed up, even when the formal setting robbed the artwork type of its street-cool issue.
One B-girl on the scene for the ladies’s occasion (the lads will do their spinning on Saturday) significantly fascinated these watching at house. Rachael Gunn, stage identify “Raygun,” is a 36-year-old school professor from Australia. With each a music diploma and a PhD in cultural research, she pursues interdisciplinary analysis on breaking, avenue dance, hip-hop, and gender at Macquarie College in Sydney.
Australia’s Rachael Gunn, generally known as Raygun competes within the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games on Aug. 9, 2024.
Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Photos
Alongside along with her uncommon educational credit, Gunn stands out as 20 years the senior of Australia’s competitor within the males’s match — she and 16-year-old Jeff “J-Assault” Dunne each gained the Oceania breaking championships to qualify for the Olympics. She additionally acquired into breaking later in life than most who pursue it significantly, getting into her first ever battle in 2012. However maybe most of all, Gunn, uh, breaks the mould of this dance style with artistic decisions that left spectators shocked.
As she went up in opposition to rivals representing Lithuania, France, and the U.S., social media was abuzz about Raygun’s signature kangaroo hops, flabbergasting flooring work, and charmingly corny poses. By all the set, and regardless of shedding every spherical, her swagger held agency. That confidence, she defined to CNBC in an interview earlier this month, was all the time going to be key: “The youthful rivals are nice of their energy, health, and explosiveness,” she mentioned. “However the older ones deliver a unique stage of maturity to the dance.” (Japan’s Ami Yuasa, 25, ended up taking the gold.)
Considered one of Gunn’s battles was in opposition to Dominika “Nicka” Banevič, a durag-wearing 17-year-old from Lithuania who went on to assert the silver medal, so she will be able to credibly say she was overwhelmed by among the best ladies breakers on this planet. And her resume remains to be spectacular in its personal proper: the top-ranked Australian Breaking Affiliation B-girl in 2020 and 2021, she has represented Australia in annual World Breaking Championships across the globe.
However perhaps taking house the gold isn’t the one technique to encourage folks. At its greatest, the Olympics is meant to have a good time the sheer number of human skill and expertise. Raygun’s routines had common folks questioning in the event that they, too, might faucet right into a hidden potential and rise to the highest ranges of a global sport. It took guts, dedication — and, sure, expertise — for Gunn to get the place she was on Friday. Don’t we wish to attain for the celebs ourselves?
Yeah, you may hold your sweaty wrestling and snooty equestrian stuff. Simply can’t relate. Because the 2024 Olympics involves an in depth, we’re using with Raygun.