Who Is Raygun? What To Know About Viral Australian Breakdancer

Breaking made its debut on the 2024 Paris Olympics and it actually received folks speaking.

Group USA’s Victor Montalvo, Sunny Choi, Logan Edra and Jeffrey Louis are proudly representing the USA, however it’s B-Lady Rachael Gunn, or higher often known as “Raygun” of Group Australia, that stole the present.

The 36-year-old athlete went up in opposition to Edra, Lithuania’s Dominika Banevič and France’s Sya Dembélé through the breaking competitors on Aug. 9.

Japan’s Ami Yuasa took dwelling the gold, whereas Banevič nabbed the silver and China’s Liu Qingyi gained the bronze. Raygun, on her finish, completed in sixteenth place — however her strikes rapidly went viral.Amongst her most talked about strikes included what some individuals are calling the “kangaroo,” which is becoming for the Aussie’s native nation.

One other one in all her strikes that has gone viral is a backwards roll, with a aspect pose and contact touches. She additionally busted out the sprinkler. Her confidence exuded on the stage as she confirmed off her expertise and seemingly grew to become a breakout breaking star.

“‘raygun’ from australia is my olympic hero really,” tweeted @coso9001.

Person @_Quezare additionally wrote: “Can we PLEASE get Raygun as our flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony. I’ve by no means been prouder to be Australian #BreakingForGold #Olympics.”

“Raygun actually hit the Kangaroo hop LMAO,” one other person posted, whereas another person pleaded, “Give Raygun the gold proper now.”

“There’s a breakdancing competitors within the olympics and Australia despatched a 36-year-old dancer named Raygun and each clip is extra unimaginable than the final,” one individual added.

After charming the world, Raygun posted a quote on her Instagram, which learn: “Don’t be afraid to be totally different, go on the market and symbolize your self, you by no means know the place that’s gonna take you.” 

She returned to Instagram tales hours later with a textual content submit wherein she wrote that she was “trying ahead to the identical degree of scrutiny on what the bboys put on tomorrow.” Whereas her strikes drew dialog on social media, her outfit did as nicely.

So who’s Rachel Gunn, AKA Raygun, the breaker from Australia?

Learn on to search out out extra.

She is a professor

Except for being knowledgeable breaker, the Olympian is a lecturer at Sydney’s Macquarie College with a Ph.D. in Cultural Research, in accordance with CNBC.

“In 2023, a lot of my college students didn’t consider me once I informed them I used to be coaching to qualify for the Olympics, and have been shocked once they checked Google and noticed that I certified,” she stated.

Raygun informed the publication that her educating and analysis facilities on breaking, hip hop and gender stereotypes that encompass the dance types.

She’s represented Australia earlier than

Making it to the Olympics is not any simple feat. Often known as the nation’s finest feminine breaker, Raygun has proudly represented Australia in 2021, 2022 and 2023 on the World Breaking Championships, per CNBC. She ranked 64 out of 80 breakers.

She had desires of competing on the Olympics

The breaker pushed herself “more durable than ever” to qualify for the Paris Video games.

“In breaking, you simply by no means know what’s going to occur on the day. You all the time must be ready. I knew the stakes have been greater for the Olympic qualifiers, and ready 10 totally different units and made positive I included all the weather and strikes within the rounds,” she informed CNBC. “I actually, actually, wished it, and so I fought actually laborious all through the competitors and simply put the whole lot on the market.”

She danced from a younger age and began breaking later in life

Over her lifetime, Raygun has dabbled in lots of types of dance, from ballet to faucet, coming into into breaking at a later stage in her life.

Her then-boyfriend, now husband and coach, launched her to breaking when she was 20 after seeing that she picked up the beat and rhythm of the music sooner than different college students.

Since then, she’s labored on her higher physique power and her specialty, which she describes as “type and creativity, not dynamics or energy strikes like many different dancers.”

She hopes to encourage different generations of dancers

Raygun famous in her interview that breakdancing “was thought of a little bit of a joke” in Australia. However now that it was formally included within the Olympics, she hopes it motivates extra folks to attempt the type of dance.

“We’re inspiring an entire new technology of individuals to get into breaking. That is so thrilling for us and we simply wish to share this tradition, this dance, and this sport.”

Peacock is streaming the Paris Olympics across the clock. Be taught extra about accounts right here. TODAY earns a commision on purchases. Peacock is owned by our father or mother firm NBCUniversal.