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AOC condemns online petition against Olympic competitor Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn

VaselineAugust 15, 2024

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AOC condemns online petition against Olympic competitor Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn

In short

The AOC has condemned an online petition attacking Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, calling it “bullying and intimidation”.

Raygun participated in the women’s breaking competition in Paris and received zero votes from the jury in her three competitions, which resulted in negative reactions.

The AOC says it has written a letter to change.org requesting that the petition be removed immediately.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has called for the removal of an anonymous online petition criticising competitor Raygun’s participation in the Paris Olympics, labelling it as disruptive, misleading and intimidating.

Raygun, the household name of Australian academic and B-Girl Rachael Gunn, entered the competition in Paris. She lost all three of her competitions, without winning a single vote from the judges.

Footage of her moves during the competition went viral and garnered negative attention, suggesting she was ridiculing or mocking the sport.

The AOC released a statement on Thursday condemning the petition on the change.org website, which was posted online on Monday.

The petition, addressed to the AOC and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calls for “immediate accountability and transparency” over the actions of Ms Gunn and Australian team principal Anna Meares in the Paris selection process.

The petition shows that other talented breakdancers have been unfairly overlooked.

The petition calls, among other things, for a full investigation into the selection process.

As of Thursday afternoon, the online petition had collected 47,166 signatures.

General Manager Matt Carroll said the AOC had written a letter to change.org requesting an immediate retraction of the petition.

Mr Carroll said the petition contained “numerous untruths designed to incite hatred against an athlete selected for the Australian Olympic team through a transparent and independent qualification and nomination process”.

“The Australian team chef de mission had no role in the qualifying events or in the nomination of athletes for the AOC selection committee, of which the chef and I are members,” Mr Carroll said.

“It is outrageous that these lies, made up by an anonymous person, can be published in this way. It amounts to bullying and intimidation and is defamatory. We demand that it be removed from the site immediately.

“The petition has incited public hatred without any factual basis. It is appalling.

“No athlete who has represented their country at the Olympic Games should be treated in this way and we stand with Dr Gunn and Anna Meares at this time.”

The AOC added information to its press release, which it described as “setting out the following facts,” including:

That the Oceania Qualification Event will be held in Sydney in October 2023 under the Olympic Qualification System established by the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) and approved by the IOC.
That the jury consisted of nine independent jury members.
The event was organised by AUSBreaking under the auspices of Dance Sport Australia and the WDSF, with athletes representing four countries: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

“Dr Rachael Gunn was rightfully nominated to the AOC for selection in the Australian Olympic Team by DanceSport Australia following her win at the Oceania Breaking Championship in October 2023,” the AOC said.

“Dr. Gunn is not responsible for any funding decisions in her sport.”

According to the AOC, Ms Meares was not involved in the qualifying event or the nomination of athletes.

The statement referred to Dr Gunn’s husband, Samuel Free, who the AOC said was a coach who “does not hold any position with AUSBreaking or DanceSport Australia in any capacity and was not a judge at the event”.

The AOC also noted that DanceSport Australia and the athletes received no federal government funding and that the Australian Olympic team for Paris was funded entirely by the AOC, with no federal taxpayer dollars involved.

Posted 55 minutes agoThu Aug 15 2024 at 06:28 am, updated 52 minutes agoThu Aug 15 2024 at 06:31 am