The 2024 Paris Olympics are the first Olympic Games to include breakdancing ― officially known as “breaking” ― as an event, and an unlikely competitor has stolen the show.
Rachael Gunn, who breaks using the name Raygun, is a 36-year-old professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, with a Ph.D. in cultural studies. On Friday, Raygun failed to earn even a single point and did not advance beyond the competition’s round-robin stage. But her moves made a big impact.
In one widely circulated clip, Raygun spins her arms like a windmill before completing a series of somewhat awkward motions. (A steel band cover of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” that’s heard in the clip, which highlights a few of Raygun’s more notable moves, is not the music that actually played during her performance. A longer video from the event can be seen here.)
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In other viral moments, Raygun appeared to mimic a Tyrannosaurus rex and a kangaroo. At one point, she boldly yawned at French competitor Sya Dembélé, aka Syssy, who was engaged in moves that looked more like what most people typically associate with breaking.
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Though Raygun didn’t earn any medals, she brought genuine joy to many Olympics viewers.
Of her performance, Raygun reportedly said her strength was her “creativity.”
“All my moves are original,” she noted.
She added that she was “never going to beat” her opponents, who are typically younger, on their “power moves,” so she wanted to “move differently” and be “artistic” on an international stage.
“I was always the underdog and wanted to make my mark in a different way,” she said.
