Olympic breaking judge explains why Australia's Raygun scored a zero at the Paris games
Australian breakdancer Rachel Gunn, a.k.a. Raygun, has taken the internet by storm, spawning memes for her performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The judges, however, weren't impressed as they gave her straight zeroes.
In case you didn't know, breaking debuted at this year's Olympics with Japan's Ami Yuasa taking home gold, Lithuania's Dominika Banevič earning silver, and China's Liu Qingyu bagging bronze.
Raygun, a lecturer at a Sydney university, did not receive favorable feedback from the judges for her now-viral kangaroo hopping routine. As a result, she scored zero points in the round-robin stage, ending her campaign for a medal.
Why didn't Raygun get any points at all? The head judge of Olympic breaking Martin Gilian, known as MGbility, said that the Aussie's score was influenced by the high level of competition from her fellow dancers on stage.
"The breaking and hip-hop community definitely stands behind her. She was just trying to bring something new, something original, and something that represents her country," he said at a press conference.
"We stay with her. We have five criteria in the comparative judging system. Just her level was maybe not as high as the other competitors."
MGbility added, "Again, we're using a comparative judging system. Her competitors were just better but it doesn't mean that she did really bad. She did her best."
During her performance, Gunn performed an energetic hop reminiscent of a kangaroo, followed by a playful yawn directed at an opponent, and then proceeded to do the sprinkler dance. Hence, MGbility believes that this routine was a true representation of the spirit of Australia as a nation.
"She was representing Australia and Oceania and did her best," she said, highlighting that Raygun won the Oceania qualifier to be at this year's Paris Olympics.
"Unfortunately for her, the other b-girls were better. That's why she didn't score any votes in her round," he underscored.
MGbility continued to say that Raygun uplifted the essence of breaking and brought something new to the table.
"She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was you know–kangaroo. The animal. For breaking, when you look for innovations or originality, you always search outside of dancing. Martial arts, how the animals move, anything."
The 36-year-old athlete makes history as Australia's first competitor in the new Olympic sport following her win in the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney, Australia.
After her Olympic stint, Raygun said that her performance was original.
"Creativity is really important to me. I go out there and I show my artistry," she said. "sometimes it speaks to the judges, and sometimes it doesn't. I do my thing, and it represents art. That is what it is about."