Raygun’s revenge: Parodied Australian breakdancer tops world rankings | News Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Ridiculed Australian Olympic champion Rachael Gunn, aka ‘B-girl Raygun’, tops the latest world rankings.

Australian Olympic breakdancer “Raygun” has been ridiculed, written off and now crowned world number one, the sport’s governing body confirmed on Wednesday.

Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, 37, became something of a global laughingstock after her kangaroo-inspired routine failed to impress judges at the Paris Olympics, where the sport of breaking made its debut.

Her moves were parodied on talk shows, her unfashionable tracksuit was ridiculed online, and breakdance enthusiasts around the world wondered how she made the team. But Raygun got her revenge and had the last laugh when the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) named her the best female breakdancer in the world.

The rankings were based on the athlete’s four best performances over the past 12 months, the WDSF said Wednesday. However, with few ranking events held between December 2023 and the Olympics, “many athletes have only one competition result that contributes to their ranking,” a WDSF statement said.

Gunn won the Oceania Continental Championship during that period, which earned her 1,000 ranking points. Japanese B-girl Riko’s victory at the Gold World Series in Hong Kong in December 2023 also earned her 1,000 points, but the WDSF said Raygun’s event carried more weight, so awarded her the higher ranking.

Raygun’s reign at the top may be short-lived

“The WDSF confirms that the rankings will change after the 12-month points expire, and when the next WDSF Breaking for Gold World Series is held in Shanghai in October 2024,” the statement added. The WDSF said it “remained steadfast in its commitment to transparency and fairness” in the competitive ranking process.

Gunn, a university lecturer, appeared on Australian TV last week to apologize for stoking a backlash against the wider breakdancing community. Gunn said she didn’t expect to do well at the Olympics, but that her record showed she was Australia’s best breakdancer.

“As soon as I qualified, I was like, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?’ Because I knew I was going to get beat, and I knew people weren’t going to understand my style and what I was going to do,” she said. “And I feel really bad for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react.”

Gunn had previously spoken out against the “pretty devastating” hatred that emerged after the Olympics. “I went there and I had fun. I took it very seriously. I worked my butt off to get ready for the Olympics and I gave it my all,” she said in a video message last month.

While many people ridiculed her performance on social media, Gunn received support from others, including her fellow Australian Olympians and the Prime Minister of Australia.