Sometimes, winning isn't everything. For 36-year-old Australian break dancer Rachael Gunn, also known as "Raygun," it's enough to just be in the game.
Raygun's performance in the first ever Olympic breaking competition scored zero points from the judges, but her routine has earned major points from viewers on TikTok, X, and Instagram.
During the five and a half hour breaking Round Robin competition, Gunn was disqualified, but fans have begun to feel drawn to her and her green-and-yellow uniform.
"RayGun is a living legend!" commented one fan on a TikTok that set Gunn's routine against an audio clip from Family Guy. Another affectionately chimed in, "She's really dancing like nobody's watching. 🥰" with a heart face emoji.
Still, RayGun has seen her fair share of criticism for her uniquely low-scoring routine. "thats the best break dancer in the entire country???" asked a TikToker.
One viewer joked that they could do better, writing, "Oh, I didn't realize that I too was an Olympic break dancer."
When not breaking, Gunn works as a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, where she lectures on gender politics and dance. Gunn told The Guardian that she's not letting the haters get her down.
"What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative — that's my strength, my creativity. I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative," Gunn said when explaining her choices to the outlet.
"I was always the underdog and wanted to make my mark in a different way," she said. Well, considering that #raygun already has been tagged in 20.5k posts on TikTok, a mark has been made.
Los Angeles, which will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, is not planning to include Breaking as a sport, so it remains to be seen how many breakers will have the opportunity to be seen on the Olympic stage in the future.
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