Whether you agree with Adele that Rachel Gunn was the “best thing” about the 2024 Olympics or are on the side of the Aussies who called onher to apologise, one thing is certain, Raygun isn’t going anywhere.
As she emerges back into the public eye after laying low since the Games concluded in August, the 37-year-old breakdancing sensation is certainly back with a bang.
In a new social media promotion for Finder, the university lecturer challenges her critics and offers the chance for them to win up to $10,000.
“I’ve heard some of you can do better than me,” she said in the video. “Really? Let’s find out, shall we?” Raygun added, before busting out moves to a breakbeat remix of Finder’s jingle.
While she may not be the country’s best athlete, losing all three rounds in which she competed in Paris, Raygun is showing the most admired of all Aussie traits: she’s a good sport. In fact, Gunn is choosing to see the funny side of the intense ridicule she has been subjected to since she hopped around like a kangaroo on the world stage.
In addition to the endless memes, Raygun was parodied by Rachel Dratch during a sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and her green and gold tracksuit topped off with a matching baseball cap was a popular choice of costume this Halloween. But she’s happily in on the joke.
“I’ve got a digital pool room of all the best ones,” she told Stellar. “My friends were all sending them to me and I loved it. I loved the people laughing with me because, yeah, I was doing some wacky stuff. I know that.”
Things have changed a lot in the last few months for the Macquarie University academic with a PhD in cultural studies whose research focused on “dance, gender politics, and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies”.
“It’s been so hard to process,” she said. “My whole world has changed. My identity has changed. My relationships have changed, for better or for worse.”
Gunn’s attempt to trademark her nickname recently hit a snag. The Olympian made an application to register the name Raygun with the Australian Trademarks Office on August 23. However, that claim was knocked back in October as it clashed with pre-existing trademarks. With a tweak, it should be fine and still prove to be her Midas touch. Marketing and PR expert Max Markson told Daily Mail Australia that he could see her picking up endorsements from “Adidas or Puma”.
She now counts billionaire Richard Branson and British pop star Boy George as friends. But for every fan of Raygun, there seem to be just as many detractors.
“People really have tried to shame me,” she said. “This is a process that I’m working through, trying to resist that shame. I’m working through mental health stuff – seeing my psychologist, doing exercise when I don’t feel like it, doing breathing exercises. [My mental health] is now something that I have to look after – it’s being exhausted.”
For a time, she admitted to not being able to walk out the front door without having a trusted someone by her side. And while she has received criticism for taking the place of someone who may have deserved to be at the Olympics more after failing to win a single round, Raygun insists she has nothing to apologise for.
“I think the haters want me to be locked away in a room, ashamed and quiet,” she said. “Every time I leave the house, go out for dinner, go to the shops or do a fashion shoot and pop my head back up, it’s saying, ‘No, you did not bring me down. You did not succeed. I still stand by what I did. It’s OK to be different. It’s OK to be yourself. You don’t have the power you think you do.’”
Shortly after the Games, Gunn was named the No. 1 breakdancer in the world, proving once and for all she doesn’t need a medal for things to keep coming up golden.
