Australian breaker Raygun becomes an instant viral hit at 2024 Paris Olympics

When the world needed a good meme, Raygun delivered in spades.
By Chance Townsend  on 
B-Girl Raygun of Team Australia competes during the B-Girls Round Robin
Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

There are a million ways for a sport to make its debut at the Olympics, but breaking probably had the most interesting one. Breaking or breakdancing made its official Paris Olympics debut on Friday with Japan's Ami Yusa taking the Gold over 16 other B-girls.

However, the B-girl that stole the show wasn't Nicka, the small Lithuanian woman wearing a durag, but 36-year-old Australian university lecturer Rachael Gunn, better known by her stage name Raygun. As an academic, her research focuses on, yep, breakdancing.

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Despite going 0-3 against her opponents and failing to score a single point during the day's event, Raygun has become a viral hit and much-needed source of memes in the backdrop of ridiculous culture war shenanigans on Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter).

For her part though, Gunn has committed to being herself despite the virality. In an interview with the Guardian, the breaker told the outlet "I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get that in a lifetime to do that on an international stage."

Headshot of a Black man
Chance Townsend
Assistant Editor, General Assignments

Currently residing in Chicago, Illinois, Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father.

In his free time, he cooks, loves to sleep, and finds great enjoyment in Detroit sports. If you have any stories, tips, recipes, or wanna talk shop about the Lions/Tigers/Pistons/Red Wings you can reach him at [email protected]


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