Raygun retires from breaking after Olympic backlash

Australian breaker Rachael Gunn has announced she volition discontinue from competition, citing the viral effect to her show astatine the Paris Olympics.

Gunn - who is known arsenic B-girl Raygun - failed to get connected the scoreboard successful each 3 of her contention rounds successful August, with a regular that included unorthodox moves, specified arsenic the sprinkler and a kangaroo hop.

The 37-year-old assemblage lecturer's regular catapulted her to planetary attraction and ridicule, spawned conspiracy theories astir her qualification, and reignited disapproval of breaking's inclusion successful the Olympics.

Gunn had initially planned to support competing but said the saga had been truthful "upsetting" that she changed her mind.

"I conscionable didn’t person immoderate power implicit however radical saw maine oregon who I was," she told section vigor presumption 2DayFM connected Wednesday.

"I was going to support competing, for sure, but that seems truly hard for maine to bash now.

“I deliberation the level of scrutiny that’s going to beryllium there, and radical volition beryllium filming it, and it volition spell online."

Gunn received a torrent of convulsive messages aft the Olympics, and was the taxable an anonymous petition demanding she apologise. It falsely accused her and her hubby of manipulating her enactment astatine the disbursal of different Australian talent.

She was vigorously defended by Olympic officials, but the her show divided sentiment wrong the breaking community, with immoderate saying she made a mockery of the sport.

It besides revived questions implicit whether breaking - which debuted successful Paris but is not connected the programme for the 2028 Games successful Los Angeles - should person ever been included successful the Olympics, owed to the originative quality of the genre, which doesn't needfully suit organised competition.

Gunn has antecedently said the backlash took the joyousness retired of the athletics for her, which she again alluded to connected Wednesday.

"Dancing is truthful overmuch fun, and it makes you consciousness good. I don’t deliberation radical should consciousness crap astir the mode that they dance.

"I inactive dance, and I inactive break. But, you know, that’s similar successful my surviving country with my partner!"