A defiant Raygun has shut down allegations that she manipulated the Olympic selection process to compete at the Games and says it’s been ‘pretty devastating’ to receive so much ‘hate’ online.
While competing in the round-robin stage of the inaugural women’s breaking competition at the Olympics, Raygun hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons after failing to score a single point in all three of her heats.
Raygun’s routine, featuring her now iconic kangaroo hop, spread like wildfire across social media and the Australian – a 36-year-old university professor in Sydney – has since been hailed as one of the unlikely stars of this summer’s Games in Paris.
But there have been claims that the Oceania qualifying event, held in Sydney last October, was set up to favour Raygun, with a change.org petition calling for the Australian chef de mission, Anna Meares, to be held accountable for ‘unethical conduct’.
The petition – which has racked up over 50,000 signatures – alleges that Raygun, real name Rachael Gunn, had established the governing body in charge of the qualifier. It also suggested that her husband, Samuel Free, may have been part of the selection panel.
However, most of the theories aimed at Raygun have been proven false and the Australian Olympic Committee responded by releasing an explosive statement criticising the b-girl’s ‘disgraceful’ treatment in the media.
According to the AOC’s chief executive officer, Matt Carroll, the petition ‘contained numerous falsehoods designed to engender hatred against an athlete who was selected in the Australian Olympic team through a transparent and independent qualification event and nomination process.’
Carroll added: ‘It is disgraceful that these falsehoods concocted by an anonymous person can be published in this way.
‘It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory. We are demanding that it be removed from the site immediately.
‘No athlete who has represented their country at the Olympic Games should be treated in this way.’
Raygun has chosen to remain tight-lipped since her questionable performance in the French capital but the Australian took to Instagram this afternoon to dispel the rumours and allegations that had been directed at her online.
‘Hey, everyone, Raygun here. I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me. I really appreciate the positivity and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives, that’s what I hoped,’ she began.
‘I didn’t realise that would also open the door to so much hate which has frankly been pretty devastating.
‘I went out there, 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 am honoured to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team and to be a part of breaking’s Olympic debut. What the other athletes have achieved has just been phenomenal.’
Raygun added: ‘In regards to the allegations and misinformation floating around, I’d like to ask everyone to please refer to the recent statement by the IOC, as well as the posts on the AUSBreaking’s Instagram page, as well as the WDSF Breaking for Gold page.
‘Bit of a fun fact for you, there are actually no points in breaking. If you want to see how the judges thought I compared to my opponents, you can actually see the comparison percentages across the five criteria on Olympics.com, all the results are there.’
Raygun said she would be enjoying a long break in Europe and pleaded with the press to stop ‘harassing’ her loved ones.
‘I’m going to be in Europe for a few weeks for some pre-planned downtime,’ she continued.
‘But I’d really like to ask the press to please stop harassing my family, my friends, the Australian breaking community and the broader street dance community.
‘Everyone has been through a lot as a result of this so I ask you to please respect their privacy. I’ll be happy to answer more questions on my return to Australia. Thanks, everyone.’
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