Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, the Australian breakdancer who earned notoriety at the Paris Olympics, has been named the world’s No.1 female performer in the sport.
To those who know Gunn through her much-mocked Olympics performance, the ranking will likely come as a surprise. As such, the World DanceSport Federation — the governing body that produces the ranking — issued an explanation to go along with the news.
Gunn came to global prominence in Paris over the summer, when she lost three battles in the round-robin stage of the competition, earning zero points.
Clips of her unusual performances — which included hopping like a kangaroo and touching her toes while lying sideways — quickly spread, sparking both criticism and viral memes.
The WDSF statement about the sport’s global rankings on Tuesday said it wanted to “provide clarity” and “address the concerns raised.”
The ranking, the body explained, does not take into account scores notched up at the Paris Olympics, nor at their qualifying rounds.
It also doesn’t hold ranking events in the seven months leading up to the Olympics, it said, in order to allow athletes to focus on the competition.
“Consequently, by the end of the Olympic Games, many of the competition results included in the ranking had expired, leading to the current situation where many athletes have only one competition result contributing to their ranking,” the statement said.
The body pointed to one event — the Oceania Continental Championships in Sydney in October 2023 — at which Gunn gained 1,000 points.
Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
The current WDSF world No.2, Japanese breaker Riko, also gained 1,000 points in a qualifying competition.
In the event of a tie, the federation said it looks to the status of the competition.
Some in the breakdancing community have criticized the WDSF for not accurately reflecting the state of the sport and its culture.
The WSDF “actually don’t have any real merit with the breakers or the breaking community,” Zack Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA, told the Associated Press.
He added that the body hasn’t organized enough events to create an accurate ranking.
37-year-old Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, where she researches the cultural politics of breakdancing.
According to her academic profile, Gunn was AusBreaking’s top-ranked B-girl in 2020 and 2021 and has represented Australia at events in Paris, Seoul, and Leuven, Belgium.
She has also contributed to a number of academic papers on the field.
Following the backlash after her Olympic performances, Gunn defended herself, saying in an interview with The Guardian that while she believes she can’t compete on athleticism, she is “artistic and creative” and wanted to “move differently.”
She also responded to a wealth of online mockery and misinformation around her qualifications, saying in an Instagram reel that it was “pretty devastating.”
Representatives for Gunn did not immediately respond to requests for comment, sent outside of Australian working hours.
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