Raygun's first public statement since viral performance that scored zero at Olympics divides opinions
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/raygun_aus / Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
The Olympics are done and dusted but people are still talking about one of the most viral moments from the Paris Games.
And that moment would be the performance of Australian breakdancer Raygun, real name Rachael Gunn.
As the 'Breaking' event made its debut in the Olympics, the b-girl wasn’t able to win over viewers or the judges it seems, as she scored a 0.0 in the competition and became the butt of many a joke and memes on social media.
Gunn has finally issued her own response on Instagram, admitting the backlash has been pretty ‘devastating’.
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You can hear what she had to say here:
In a video posted on August 15, she said: "I really appreciate the positivity and I'm glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives, that's what I hoped."
She continued: "I didn't realise that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating.
"But I went out there and had fun.
"I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics and I gave it my all, truly. And I am honoured to have been part of the Australian team and part of Australia's breaking debut.
"What the other athletes have achieved is just phenomenal."
She also went to speak about the 'misinformation' surrounding her inclusion in the Australian team, adding that people should 'refer to the recent statement provided by the AOC [Australian Olympic Committee], as well as the posts on the Oz Breaking Instagram page as well as the WDSF Breaking for Gold page'.
She added: "Bit of a fun fact for you, there are actually no points in breaking. If you wanna see how the judges thought I compared to my opponents you can actually see the comparison percentages across the five criteria on Olympics.com, all the results are there."
Gunn then finished her statement by asking the media to refrain from 'harassing my family, my friends, the Australian breaking community, and the broader street-dancing community'.
However, her video didn't win over everyone and has pretty much divided social media users.
One user said that there 'needed to be an investigation on how you got on the Olympics'.
“Nice try but obviously you haven't accepted what you did,” a second said.
A third referenced her position as a university professor, saying: “So you would know that when you fail a student and provide your feedback it does not come from a place of hate.
"You fail them and provide feedback because no matter how hard the student tried, their work wasn’t good enough to receive the marks to pass."
While others came to her defence, saying that they 'loved' her and thought she was the 'highlight of Paris'.
“You put breaking on the map girl, I loved it, ignore the haters, just delete all their comments. Success is the best revenge, I think you should have some fun with it all,” someone else said.
“When I first saw your video I thought how fun and different your interpretation was. Then I realized about all the bullying. I think you where super fun and authentic.” another added.