Olympic breaking's "Raygun" goes viral for hilarious dance move

Breaking made its long-awaited debut at the Olympics today.

Many curious onlookers checked out the new Olympic sport, which is no longer referred to as “breakdancing.”

But the most talked-about breaker was not Ami Yuasa, the gold medallist from Japan, nor any other athlete who won a single dance battle in the round robin today.

Instead, it was Australia’s Rachael Gunn, who is more well-known by her breaking nickname “Raygun.” The Aussie danced her way into the hearts of millions around the world for her hilarious moves.

The memes were flying on social media.

What my nephew does after telling all of us to “watch this” pic.twitter.com/366LjIRl4j

— Liz Charboneau (@lizchar) August 9, 2024

 

Unfortunately, Raygun failed to impress the judges, losing each one of her three of her B-girl battles by 18-0 scores.

But who cares?

According to NBC, “Raygun” has a PhD in cultural studies and teaches about breaking, hip-hop culture, and gender studies related to these specific dances.

This is Napoleon Dynamite level stuff. pic.twitter.com/4YYJwgYAbD

— Kameron Mazurek (@KameronMazurek) August 9, 2024

Give Raygun the gold right now #breakdancing pic.twitter.com/bMtAWEh3xo

— n★ (@nichstarr) August 9, 2024

Now the sprinkler is a part of break dancing#raygun#breaking#Olympics2024Paris #Paris2024 #breakdancing pic.twitter.com/NGaQnUsH9n

— Its your girl_Liz (@d4ch0sen1) August 9, 2024

A 36-year-old professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Dr. Rachael Gunn’s research interests include dance, gender politics, and the “dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies.”

She said she wanted to inject some “Australian character” into her performance, which may help explain the kangaroo hopping at one point in her routine. Raygun said she knew was going to be an underdog in the competition.

“I was never going to beat these B-girls at what they do,” Raygun said, per Kieran Campbell of Nine Network in Australia.

“So I did what I do best and I went out and I showed myself, my creativity, my style, a little bit of Australian character so that I could try and make my mark on this world stage.”

She certainly did just that.