Raygun Clears The Air On Recent Breakdancing Retirement Comment

Paris Olympic competitor Rachael "Raygun" Gunn, an Australian breakdancer known for her unique and unconventional routines, appeared to announce her retirement from breakdancing earlier this month.

Raygun, who went viral for her Olympic performance in Paris, received a score of zero from the judges, sparking a wave of public reaction and online criticism. The response, she shared, had taken an emotional toll, which initially led her to consider stepping away from competitive dancing.

However, Raygun is now clarifying that she hasn’t quite finished her dancing career yet.

Videos of Raygun’s performance at the Paris Olympics have taken social media by storm, with her distinctive moves inspiring viral reactions from audiences worldwide. Her routine, highlighted by unconventional elements like side-lying toe touches, smooth floor slides, and her now-iconic kangaroo jump, quickly captured widespread attention online.

On Wednesday, November 6, Raygun discussed the experience on an Australian radio show, where she shared she is "not going to compete anymore."

“I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now to approach a battle," she added. “Yeah, I mean I still dance, and I still break. But, you know, that’s like in my living room with my partner. It’s been really upsetting. I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was.”

However, she’s clarifying that she’s not ready to hang up her breaking shoes just yet.

“So I was talking, you know, on 2dayFM about how I’m not going to do certain competitions anymore, which didn’t seem like such a big deal because breaking is not going to be in the Olympics [at the 2028 L.A. Games] anyway,” Raygun said on the show, per the New York Post. “But you know, I’m still going to be part of community jams, or I’d like to go to community jams and still and still dance and still break — never used the word ‘retire,’ But, you know, it just caught on to the news cycle.”

She went on to explain that she has no intention of ever leaving the world of breakdancing behind.

“I’m not retiring. You try and stop me. I’m not ever going to stop dancing. So if you hear that again, you know that it’s not the truth. You can’t retire from an art form. So that's why I’m never going to stop,” she said.

In August, Raygun opened up about the backlash she faced following her Olympic performance.

“I didn’t realize that that would also open the door to so much hate which has frankly been pretty devastating,” she said on Instagram at the time. “While, I went out there and I had fun, I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off, preparing for the Olympics and I gave my all truly."

"I’m honored to have been a part of the Australian Olympic Team and to be part of breaking’s Olympic debut," she added.

Gunn faced a barrage of hostile messages, and an anonymous petition demanding she apologize gathered 50,000 signatures. She was accused—without any evidence—of scheming her way onto the world’s biggest stage at the expense of other talented dancers in the Australian hip-hop community.

Rumors circulated, including a conspiracy theory claiming she had founded the governing body responsible for the Oceania qualifiers. Another falsehood suggested that her husband, a respected breaker and qualified judge, had been on the panel that selected her for the competition.

The Sydney Morning Herald has clarified that Rachael "Raygun" Gunn and her husband, Samuel Free, are not founders or leaders of the Australian Breaking Association. Instead, the organization was founded by Lowe Napalan, a prominent figure in the Australian breaking community.

"The selection process for Australia's Breaking team heading to Paris was conducted over two days, and open to all interested participants in the Oceanic region," the Australian breaking organization AUSBreak said in a statement. "Adhering to World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) regulations, which align with International Olympic Committee (IOC) standards, the process aimed to ensure a fair and transparent outcome."

"Their selection was based solely on their performance in their battles on that day," AUSBreak added in its statement.