Australian chef de mission Anna Meares has launched a furious defence of under siege breaking trailblazer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn after her viral performance in Paris.
“I haven’t spoken to Rachael yet. But what I can say is that I love Rachael and I think that what has occurred on social media with trolls and keyboard warriors and taking those comments and giving them air time has been really disappointing,” Meares said.
“If you don’t know Rachael’s story in 2008, she was locked in a room crying, being involved in a male dominated sport as the only woman and it took great courage for her to continue on and fight for her opportunity to participate in a sport that she loved.
“And that got her to winning the Olympic qualifying event to be here in Paris. She is the best breakdancer female that we have for Australia.
“And you look at the history of what we’ve had as women athletes has faced in terms of criticism, belittlement, judgment, criticism and simple comments like they shouldn’t be there.
“100 years ago, leading into Paris in 1924. Australia sent a team of 37 athletes none were women.
“100 years later, we have 256 women represented here. And Raygun is an absolutely loved member of this Olympic team. She has represented the Olympic team, the Olympic spirit with great enthusiasm, and I absolutely love her courage.
“I love her her character, and I feel very disappointed for her that she has come under the attack that she has.”
I’m curious how one gets a masters degree in breaking. Also heard it was her company that ran the qualifications and 15 of the competitions at the Oceania Championship were her students.
Anna Mears found her in a room crying after a 2008 competition. So they been chums for 16 years.
The World Dance Sport Federation originally tried to get Ball Room Dancing in the Olympics Rachel Ray Gunn is a ball room dancer. Funnily enough the World Dance Sport Federation also has no legitimate ties to break dancing in anyway. In 2019 Rachel Gunn decides Australia can’t be on the back foot for the Olympics breaking.
Australia had no recognised national federation so, as reported by the SMH, Gunn took up the challenge. “It was like, ‘Well this is in [the Olympics] now’,” she said. “So we’d better make sure that we’re not being misrepresented. People were really worried about what happened in the ’80s, where the narrative kind of got carried away from what breaking was, and a lot of the culture and the history was lost. “We needed to make sure that there was a seat at the table for us, even though it’s not something that we planned or necessarily dreamed of.” It’s obvious how unplanned it all was based on how Gunn earned her spot on the Australian team and had a spot on the Aussie barge that floated down the river Seine during the Opening Ceremony. After missing out on top spot, three B-Boys and three B-Girls turned to the Olympic Qualifier Series as an alternate route to Paris. https://www.foxsports.com.au/olympics/people-were-really-worried-truth-behind-aussie-breaker-being-picked-for-olympics/news-story/a7b362a04b73138e21ca96fd797e51d4
It’s all bullshit, nepotism and you can’t prove me wrong. Just because someone has a Masters degree in sprinting doesn’t mean they’re going to be the best sprinter…