Australian breaker Raygun retires after Olympics backlash

Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, known as "Raygun", has retired from competitive breakdancing due to the scrutiny, criticism and conspiracy theories she faced after her unorthodox routine at the Paris Olympics went viral.

Gunn, a 37-year-old university lecturer, failed to get on the scoreboard in all three of her battles when breaking made its Olympic Games debut in the French capital in August.

Her unusual routine — which included moves such as a kangaroo hop — quickly made her an internet sensation, generating endless memes and widespread ridicule.

The performance also spawned conspiracy theories about how Gunn qualified for the Games, and triggered debate about the sport's value and inclusion in the Olympics.

Gunn had initially planned to keep competing, but said that the saga had been so "upsetting" that she changed her mind.

"I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was," she told radio station 2DayFM.

"I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now. I think the level of scrutiny that’s going to be there, and people will be filming it, and it will go online."

Gunn said she received a torrent of abuse and violent messages after the Olympics, and was the subject of an online petition accusing her of manipulating the qualification procedure to earn her place at the Games. The petition attracted 50,000 signatures before it was removed at the request of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).

"The conspiracy theories were totally wild," Gunn said. “But I just try and stay on the positives and that’s what gets me through."

"The people that have like [said]: 'You have inspired me to go out there and do something that I’ve been too shy to do. You’ve brought joy, you’ve brought laughter. You know, we’re so proud of you'," she said in her Sydney radio interview.

Amid the criticism, Gunn's performance was defended by an Olympic breakdancing judge and the AOC. In September, the World DanceSport Federation ranked her the number-one female breakdancer globally.

Breaking was dropped from the Olympic programme for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, and it is not scheduled for the 2032 Games in Brisbane. Gunn's performance in Paris divided the breaking community, with some of her peers defending her but others saying that she had made a mockery of the sport on the world's biggest stage.

While Gunn said she has no plans to return to competitive breakdancing, she won't stop breaking entirely.

"I still dance and I still break," she said. "But that’s, like, in my living room with my partner."