A new Australian meme was born over the weekend: Raygun, aka Rachael Gunn, the Olympic breakdancer who bombed so hard she sparked an avalanche of international discourse.
The 36-year-old b-girl and academic failed to score a single point in the first (and potentially last) breakdancing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with an unconventional routine featuring kangaroo hops and floor-writhing in place of the sport’s usual tricks.
It was a deliberate choice, as Gunn admitted: “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, because how many chances do you get in a lifetime to do that on an international stage?”
Was her performance creative, camp, cringe… or an act of colonisation? The internet is undecided.
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