Two years after becoming one of the most recognizable – and ridiculed – athletes in the world, Raygun is finally ready to take back control of her story.
Rachael Gunn became a global sensation almost overnight after her now infamous six-minute performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
But behind the viral memes, kangaroo poses and relentless online mockery was an academic who, by his own admission, struggled to even leave the house.
The 38-year-old transformed from relative unknown to international punchline after her three Olympic battles went viral.
She and her husband Samuel Free subsequently became the target of conspiracy theories and accusations that they had somehow cheated their way into the Games – claims that were particularly damaging because Free was also her coach.
Now, two years later, the Sydney-born athlete is preparing to take on the chaos in a new Netflix documentary, Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly.
Two years after becoming one of the most recognizable – and ridiculed – athletes in the world, Raygun is finally ready to take back control of her story.
Unlike when the streaming giant first approached her at the height of the scandal, she now finally feels ready to tell her side of the story.
‘I wouldn’t have been in a space where I could talk about it, let alone laugh so hard about it’ Gunn tells Stellar about the aftermath of Paris.
She says the documentary “feels a bit like closure. A big part of what happened was everyone else’s voices. I couldn’t cut through. People were not willing to listen. I had no control over the story.
“Everyone thought they knew who I was, knew my motivations, knew my background – everything. This finally feels like I can move on with my life.’
It’s a remarkable change for the woman who was once at the center of one of the biggest internet dustups in recent history.
Gunn credits working with a psychologist and taking medication for helping her finally accept what happened in Paris and rebuild.
‘I feel like I can finally be myself unapologetically. It’s really empowering and liberating,” she said.
She still visits the same therapist to whom she confided before leaving for Paris that her greatest fear was that her Olympic achievement would be mocked.
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Rachael Gunn became a global sensation almost overnight after her now infamous six-minute break performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics
But behind the viral memes, kangaroo poses and relentless online mockery was an academic who, by his own admission, struggled to even leave the house
Her therapist’s response?
“Do you think that’s reasonable?” She said after it all happened that the things I said made sense in a different way,” Gunn said. “She’s still very helpful.”
The documentary also delves into Gunn’s relationship with Free, who she met while working at a call center in 2008 and who would eventually become her husband, coach and one of the people who stood by her when the internet turned against them.
Gunn’s fellow B-girls also address the allegations of cheating in the documentary, dismissing claims that the couple somehow manipulated their way into Olympic competition.
“We do everything together… he continues to encourage and support me,” Gunn says of Free.
‘We have been together for a long time. It brought us closer together because we were both attacked. His ethics were under attack. He is a disability support worker; a caring, ethical person. He always tries to do the right thing.
“It was hard for both of us to see our names being dragged through the mud and people saying things that were completely untrue, as if it were the truth.”
The couple also reveal that shortly after qualifying for the Games, they both realized that Gunn’s creative and idiosyncratic style of breaking was unlikely to compete with the power moves of her rivals in Paris.
The pressure became so great that Gunn had a panic attack in the Olympic Village.
‘In the run-up [to the Games]“I couldn’t enjoy dancing,” she added.
‘My parents described it as a hobby, a great space in which I was discovering myself. And then suddenly it seemed like an elite sport and I was drug tested at six in the morning. I started going to the gym. It just became a huge source of stress.”
But despite everything that happened, Gunn refused to let go of the experience.
“I won’t let anything stop me from doing something I love,” she insisted.
“The breaking community was great. At every event I went to, people welcomed me back. I love this scene!’
‘It’s such a diverse group of people – different jobs, backgrounds, languages, religions. We all come together. That’s what hip-hop is about: peace, unity, love and having fun.”
