Australian teacher Rachael Gunn sparked a wave of opinions, reactions and emotions with her performance at the breaking competition, a sport that made its debut on Friday, August 9 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
According to the criteria of
The Olympics added breaking as a strategy to attract a younger audience. However, hiphop communities and pioneers of the art They questioned whether the inclusion of sport was properly organizedespecially after seeing Gunn’s presentation.
It is logical that those who wish to participate in the Games must have certain qualities that make them stand out as strong, serious and superior competitors, as is the case of Tom Daley, a diver who has participated multiple times in the different editions of the format, winning several medals along the way.
However, Internet users and spectators of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games They did not hesitate to question the “talent” of the Australian teacherthe competitor who holds a PhD in cultural studies from Macquarie University.
In the battle she participated in, facing Logan Edra, “Raygun”, as Rachel Gunn is known, performed a series of movements that were notably different from the steps of her opponents. The teacher did not hesitate to show off her “star steps”, lying on her side and bringing the tips of her fingers to those of her feet.
After getting up, he turned around and did four kangaroo jumps.making reference and honoring one of the most emblematic animals of her native country. She then added to her choreography a series of movements that could be described as imitating a duck and different swimming techniques. In short, the participant left behind the head turns and somersaults that her colleagues did in the breaking gala.
At the end of his performance, the audience gave him a soft and peaceful applause, and then he revealed the score that the judges had given him, in which the nine voted for his rival, who won 18-0.
As expected, the “Raygun” performance quickly went viral on social media, creating a wave of comments about “her forbidden steps”as expressed by Internet users.
“The more I see videos of Raygun, the Australian breaker, the angrier I get,” “There are 27.7 million Australians in the world and they are sending her to the Olympics for this inaugural event? Please,” “Australia just set breakdancing back 40 years,” “How did she get so far? The kangaroo, her signature move,” “There hasn’t been such a dominant Olympic performance since Usain Bolt’s 100m at Beijing 2008,” were some of the comments.
A couple of hours after being eliminated and receiving harsh criticism, Gunn defended her participation in the Paris Olympics, clearly emphasizing that she gave her all on the track, using her Australian talent.
“I did what I do best. I showed my creativity, my style and a little bit of Australian character to try to make a place for myself on this world stage“he told the television channel ‘Nine Network’.
Likewise, through her Instagram profile she expressed that one should not be “afraid of being different, go for it, show yourself, you never know where it will take you.”
What studies does Rachael Gunn have?
According to her profile, her research interests lean towards “dance, gender politics and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies.” She holds a PhD in cultural studies and has extensive experience as a jazz, ballroom and tap dancer. However, she assured that His interest in breaking is more anthropological than practical, as The New York Times puts it.
“Breaking offers a chance to explore new forms of the Olympic spirit beyond ‘faster, higher, stronger’. It shows us that we don’t really know all the points on which the body can turn or throw its weight, the different shapes it can take or all the ways it can move,” he wrote in The Economist.
JOHAN STEVEN GUERRERO.
DIGITAL SCOPE TEAM.
TIME.
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