Australian breaker Raygun becomes an instant viral hit at 2024 Paris Olympics
There are a million ways for a sport to make its debut at the Olympics, but breaking probably had the most interesting one. Breaking or breakdancing made its official Paris Olympics debut on Friday with Japan's Ami Yusa taking the Gold over 16 other B-girls.
However, the B-girl that stole the show wasn't Nicka, the small Lithuanian woman wearing a durag, but 36-year-old Australian university lecturer Rachael Gunn, better known by her stage name Raygun. As an academic, her research focuses on, yep, breakdancing.
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Despite going 0-3 against her opponents and failing to score a single point during the day's event, Raygun has become a viral hit and much-needed source of memes in the backdrop of ridiculous culture war shenanigans on Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter).
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For her part though, Gunn has committed to being herself despite the virality. In an interview with the Guardian, the breaker told the outlet "I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get that in a lifetime to do that on an international stage."
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Topics Olympics Social Media
Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and Mother Jones.
In his free time, he cooks, loves to sleep, and greatly enjoys Detroit sports. If you have any tips or want to talk shop about the Lions, you can reach out to him on Bluesky @offbrandchance.bsky.social or by email at [email protected].
