Rachael Gunn’s father-in-law has taken aim at Olympic judges as he broke his silence on his daughter-in-law failing to score a point in the break dancing competition.
The 36-year-old, known as Raygun, lost all three of her round-robin battles by a combined score of 54-0.
Gunn was coached by her husband, fellow breakdancer Samuel Free.
Andrew Free, Raygun’s father-in-law and Samuel’s father, took to social media on Saturday to complain about the judges, partly blaming them for her poor performance.
‘It was a pretty stacked competition and the judges were clearly looking for a certain style of breaking which is not Rachael’s,’ he said on social media.
‘Although they are supposed to mark five different aspects with each having the same weighting, in my obviously biased opinion they did not reward originality and musicality so she was up against it.
‘The main thing is she represented Australia and breaking at the Olympics with courage and dignity.’
The officials in Paris marked performers over five categories: Technique, execution, musicality, originality and vocabulary.
Raygun became an overnight sensation for all the wrong reasons after failing to score a single point during breaking’s first appearance at the Olympics
Gunn and her husband Samuel Free are pictured ahead of her Olympic debut
In a show of support on Sunday, the head judge of the breaking competition Martin Gilian, known as MGbility, said that Gunn embodied the spirit of the discipline in her effort to be original.
And he revealed that the breaking federation had offered her mental health support in the wake of the backlash.
‘Breaking is all about originality and bringing something new to the table and representing your country or region,’ MGbility said in a press conference.
‘This is exactly what Raygun was doing. She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was a kangaroo.’
‘We have five criteria in the competitive judging system and just her level was maybe not as high as the other competitors.
He continued in an effort to explain why Gunn was not awarded any points.
‘But again, that doesn’t mean that she did really bad. She did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier. Unfortunately for her, the other B-girls were better,’ MGbility added.
Despite Raygun’s family’s enthusiasm for her routine, the breakdancer was widely panned for her distinctly Australian routine and uniform.
That included kangaroo hopping, slithering like a snake and even using ‘the sprinkler’, an iconic Aussie dance movie widely used by men who can’t dance.
Raygun admitted post-event that she couldn’t compete athletically with the tricks and spins of her younger opponents.
Sharon and Andrew Free are Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s in-laws
‘What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative – that’s my strength, my creativity,’ she said.
Back home, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commended Gunn when asked about criticism of her routine.
‘Raygun had a crack, good on her, and a big shout out to her,’ he told reporters in Adelaide on Sunday.
‘That is in the Australian tradition of people having a go. She’s had a go representing our country, and that’s a good thing.
‘Whether they’ve won gold medals or just done their best, that’s all we asked for. It’s the participating that is really important.’
But Megan Davis, an NRL commissioner and key force behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart, described the academic’s performance as a ‘disgrace’.
‘Getting zero points on purpose in three rounds for an academic study subsidised by the taxpayer both at a university and Olympic level isn’t funny and isn’t ‘having a go’,’ she said on social media via The Australian. ‘(It’s) disrespectful to other competitors.
‘I’m glad most Aussies aren’t buying the Kool-Aid.
‘This is a totally mainstream media-driven narrative. Cos they see themselves in her. Affluent, comfortable life, educated, not a care in the world, nothing matters really, what fun, what a fun Aussie gal, chortle chortle.’
Breakdancing has been dropped from the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with no guarantee it will return at Brisbane in 2032 or beyond.
Raygun is a lecturer at Sydney’s Macquarie University in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature.
The Australian breaker, 36, suffered a disastrous performance at the Olympic Games
Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick quoted Raygun’s official Macquarie University profile in a Facebook post after she went viral, pointing out that she received taxpayer subsidies to study breakdancing at the institution.
‘Lots of discussion about the Australian breakdancing representative at the Olympics,’ Senator Rennick posted.
‘I’m more interested in her actual profession. She attended Macquarie University for her bachelor’s degree in contemporary music, graduating in 2009, and for her PhD in cultural studies, graduating in 2017.
‘Raygun’s PhD thesis focused on ‘the intersection of gender and Sydney’s breaking culture’ … her publications include:
‘In the same way breakdancing doesn’t belong in the Olympics it’s fair to say taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidising Universities to study or teach it,’ he continued.
‘Nothing against break dancing by the way. By all means it’s a fair recreational activity, but that’s it. It shouldn’t be subsidised.
‘It also begs the question – just how many obscure and pointless courses do Universities offer that are subsidised by the taxpayer?
‘It also goes to show just because you have a PhD in something doesn’t mean you are any good at it.’
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