- Aussie went viral after failing to score points in competition
- 36-year-old’s routine called ridiculous and embarrassing
- The country’s chief of mission has criticized her critics
Australia’s Olympic president has criticised breakdancer Rachael Gunn, calling it typical of the misogynistic insults female athletes have to endure.
Mission chief Anna Meares says Gunn should be commended for her courage, not pilloried for her performances at the Paris Games.
Gunn, better known as Raygun, failed to score a single point when breaking made its Olympic debut on Friday in Paris.
Since then, Gunn has been the target of not only criticism, but also criticism of her performance, online and in some mainstream media.
She hopped like a kangaroo, at times resembled a T-Rex and rolled across the floor in an incoherent manner that both confused and entertained Australians watching the sport for the first time.
Gunn responded strongly to her critics, criticizing the IOC for removing the sport from the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“I love Rachael,” Meares told reporters on Saturday.
‘What has happened on social media with trolls and keyboard warriors, and picking up on those comments and giving them airtime, is downright disappointing.
Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s routines in Paris made her go viral for all the wrong reasons after she failed to score a single point when the sport made its Olympic debut.
The Australian’s efforts made her the butt of jokes on the internet, but she hit back at her critics, criticising the International Olympic Committee for abandoning the sport.
Australian chef de mission in Paris, Anna Meares (pictured), said criticism of Raygun was the same kind of misogynistic insults that have been directed at female athletes for generations
‘Raygun is an absolutely beloved member of this Olympic team.
‘She has represented the Olympic team and the Olympic spirit with great enthusiasm.
“And I absolutely love her courage. I love her character and I feel very disappointed for her that she came under the attack that she did.”
Gunn, a 36-year-old Australian university lecturer, has lost all three of her round-robin bouts by a combined score of 54-0.
She works for Macquarie University in Sydney as a creative arts researcher specialising in ‘the cultural politics of breakdance’ and has a PhD in sport.
“In 2008 she was locked in a room and cried because she was the only woman in a male-dominated sport,” Meares said.
‘And it took a lot of courage for her to keep going and fight for her chance to participate in a sport she loved.
‘That’s why she won the Olympic qualifying event to be here in Paris.
“She’s the best female breakdancer we have in Australia.”
Raygun left many viewers in hysterics or scratching their heads with a routine in which she jumped like a kangaroo and at times even resembled a T-Rex
In a scathing social media post, Gunn hit out at people who criticized her Olympic outfit after some trolls suggested she looked like a tennis umpire
Meares compared the criticism to the historical misogynistic insults directed at female athletes as they struggle for recognition in the sporting world.
“Now look at the history of what we as female athletes have experienced in terms of criticism, belittling, condemnation and simple comments like ‘they shouldn’t have been there,’” she said
A hundred years ago, in the run-up to Paris 1924, Australia sent a team of 37 athletes – not a single woman.
‘A hundred years later, we have 256 women represented here.’
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Australian Jeff ‘J-Attack’ Dunne also failed to survive the round-robin stage of the men’s event on Saturday.
Dunne suffered three straight defeats, but took at least one point in his second and third fights.