A breakdancer’s performance inspired everyone dreaming of making it to the Olympics.
A ‘hilariously ridiculous’ Olympic breakdancer has gone viral for admitting she fell short of her competitors’ skill level.
Breakdancing, a brand-new event in this year’s Olympics, has certainly sparked plenty of conversation.
Judges evaluate the dancers’ performances based on six criteria: creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity, and musicality.
After each round, the judges cast their votes, and the breaker with the highest score is declared the winner.
Australia’s Rachael Gunn became an overnight meme after her performance at the Paris 2024 Games, where she pulled out some questionable moves.
Gunn, 36, didn’t quite match the skill level of her opponents but emphasized that her dance focused more on ‘creativity’ than on intricate moves.
In a post-competition interview, the dancer, also known as Raygun, said: “I was never going to beat these girls at their specialty—power moves.”
“What I bring is creativity.”
According to her Olympics bio, in addition to being a breakdancer, Gunn is a university lecturer at Macquarie University with a Ph.D. in cultural studies.
Dance is listed as one of her research interests.
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Commenting on her performance, someone on X said: “I almost feel sorry for RayGun, the Aussie [breaker] — but that routine was just hilariously absurd.”
“Stuff like this always seems to happen at the Olympics.”
Another person added: “I’d like to personally thank RayGun for making millions of people around the world think, ‘Hey, maybe I can make it to the Olympics too.’”
And a third person quipped that she needed to take a ‘break’ from dancing…ouch.
Others compared her performance to how they dance after having a few too many drinks.
One person said, “So embarrassing for us Australians. I had to laugh because I could totally do that—probably did when I was younger and had a few drinks.”
Others, however, had positive things to say about her performance.
One person commented, “Honestly, Raygun, you’ve made my day. I’ve genuinely been smiling all morning.”
But it wasn’t just her dancing that people were commenting on.
According to the New York Post, the International Olympic Committee permitted competitors to wear their custom uniforms, provided these were submitted for approval before the competition.
Gunn was the sole athlete wearing a tracksuit that represented her country.
In response to the backlash, she took to Instagram and said, “I hope the same level of scrutiny is applied to what the boys are wearing tomorrow.”
