The 2024 Summer Olympics are the first to feature an official breakdancing competition alongside traditional events like gymnastics, track and field, and volleyball. A star wasn’t born, but a household name was. 36-year-old cultural studies professor Rachael “Raygun” Gunn shocked and delighted audiences with one of the most unexpected performances at this year’s games.
Bringing breakdancing to the Olympicsas part of an effort to reach and broaden its appeal to younger, more diverse audiences. In fact, one of the things that has made this year’s event so successful so far seems to be the ability for viewers to easily watch the various competitions and instantly share viral footage, commentary, and memes via platforms like TikTok. As a result, there’s a version of the Summer Olympics that’s presented on live TV and another that’s shared online every day, with various main characters and hilarious moments bouncing around from various corners of the internet.
Gunn is now one of them. After practising for 16 years and competing in various breakdancing world championships, he has qualified to represent Australia at the Paris Olympics. “My speciality is style and creativity, not dynamics or power moves like many other dancers,” he said. He told NBC Before the event. “I checked a lot of those boxes because that's my area of expertise. I don't know if it's going to be as valuable as the other criteria, but I'm hoping people will still be impressed with what I bring because it's something different.”
People were definitely shocked, but probably not in the way he intended. Here are some of the reactions:
As many have noted, Gunn seems like a perfectly nice person and it's clear he's trying to bring his best energy to one of the world's biggest stages. And he's really accomplished more than most artists at the Games, medal or not. There's a lot of dark stuff going on in the world today, and Gunn's dancing, “gross” or not, brought smiles to millions of people today. So You Think You Can Dance? What the Summer Olympics lack is the sophisticated, realistic, unvarnished reality television vibe.