What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: No, RayGun Didn’t Cheat.
I’m going to look back one last time at the 2024 Olympics to set the record straight for Australian b-girl Rachel “RayGun” Gunn. Not to defend her performance at her first Olympic competition, but to correct misinformation that arose afterwards and to look at the piles of posts online about her extraordinary performance. Because the internet shaming crowd is dead wrong about RayGun, and it’s crappier than you think.
RayGun did not “rig” the qualifying competition to get a spot in the Olympics.
Tweets like this make serious accusations: “RayGun hosted the Olympic qualifying tournament in Australia, created the rules, appointed her husband as coach – none of the country’s top breakdancers were able to compete in the qualifying tournament due to Dr. Rachel Gunn’s decision not to compete in the qualifying tournament.” cover travel expenses.”
These accusations were spread and repeated so often that they have now become common knowledge on the Internet. But every word of this carefully crafted tweet is a lie.
According to the Australian Olympic Committee , the Olympic breaking qualifying competition “was conducted in accordance with the Olympic qualification system as defined by the international governing body, the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), and approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).”
Gunn is not part of any of these organizations. She participated in the qualifying competition and won.
RaeGan’s husband Samuel Free is her coach, not the coach of the Australian Olympic team. Neither Free nor Gunn are on the governing body that judges breaking competitions. They have no information on the Australian Olympic team’s travel costs or who may compete in qualifying events.
RayGun is not the reason why breaking won’t be included in 2028 games
Breaking will never be included in the 2028 Games. With the exception of the “core” sports played at each Olympics, competitions are determined by the host city. Los Angeles decided not to include breaking before the start of the Paris 2024 games.
The Internet Should Be Angry About Saber Fencing Instead
Online hate mobs shouldn’t exist, especially among athletes, but if you need to be angry, be angry at saber fencing. Unlike breaking, in saber fencing the coaches are often judges, including the guy who coaches both Tatiana Nazlymova and Mitchell Saron. They both made the U.S. fencing team, but competed under suspicion and investigation into whether they were helped by referees in qualifying matches.
There’s too much to see here, but fencing seems like a dirty sport . In fact, it may be the most corrupt sport in the world . Internet hate mobs can benefit from immersing themselves in the byzantine world of professional fencing. But instead they found a woman they hated.
Where does all the hate for Rachel Gunn come from?
Rachel Gunn isn’t the first person to make an Olympic team and perform horribly at the games. However, in the past, athletes who have struggled at the Olympics have generally been seen as favored, bumbling underdogs. Inspirational figures instead of public enemies. Consider:
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Eric “Eel” Moussambani: Eel made the Equatorial Guinea Olympic swimming team in 2000 and almost had to be rescued by a lifeguard during the 100m swim.
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Michael David “Eddie the Eagle” Edwards : This ski jumper made the Great Britain ski jumping team for the 1988 Winter Games because he was the only Briton to compete. He became world famous despite finishing last in both of his competitions.
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Jamaica Bobsled Team : Speaking of the 1988 games, the Jamaican bobsled team was also adopted as the world’s mascot despite crashing and not finishing the competition. Honestly, they got better in future games.
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Kinzang Lhamo : To get him back for the 2024 Games, Bhutanese Olympic marathon runner Kinzang Lhamo finished in three hours and 52 minutes, completing part of the course—a performance that would have been pretty good for a first marathon, but not good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon . But Lhamo received a standing ovation. He deserved it, of course, but why wasn’t Gunn treated the same way?
Comedy, culture wars and the RayGun hate gang
It’s often difficult to pinpoint exactly why something “goes viral,” but in the case of Gunn’s stunning performance, comedy definitely played a big role. Gunn’s awkward dance performance was undeniably funny, as opposed to watching someone struggle to finish a marathon.
I laughed too, but I also found her acting interesting. My reaction was, “She’s having fun there; Good on her for trying so hard.” But the Internet doesn’t handle that kind of complexity very well, so the more common reaction was something along the lines of, “That’s funny because she sucks !” Hyuk-hyuk! “But everything can’t just be funny anymore. They must be political.
The aforementioned Twitter user took the time to put together an alternative set of facts about Gunn and Photoshop, similar to the newspaper article, to make it more believable. Then some other anonymous CHUD took the time to post an online petition (which was deleted for lying) about Gunn and collect signatures from other assholes. RayGun’s virality may have started organically, but it was deliberately hijacked, weaponized, and used to rally hate mobs under the banner of a culture war.
Gunn is a woman, and whenever a woman does something, “supporters of independent journalism” like @amuse have a built-in audience of internet misogynists who help spread the lies. Plus, she has a PhD in cultural studies—she truly is the perfect culture war villain. Then the destruction itself occurs.
Breaking is deeply suspicious of providers of “conservative headlines.” After all, breaking was invented primarily by black people. It’s a dance that’s inherently suspicious, and when you do it, you’re listening to hip-hop, which isn’t even music. So it must be funny and corrupt. Fencing, with its long history, European roots and Ivy League athletes, is certainly a fair sport, so let’s get mad at some dancer instead of wondering how we can buy ourselves a spot on the Olympic fencing team.