Australian Olympic break dancer Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn has dropped another bombshell on breakfast TV this morning – she’s not retiring and is “never going to stop”.
News broke around the country last week that the woman who became one of Paris 2024’s most viral athletes was hanging up her sneakers after an interview on Sydney radio.
But on Nine’s Today on Monday morning, the B-girl revealed that eulogies for the alleged end to her career were premature.
“So I was talking, you know, on 2dayFM about how I’m not going to do certain competitions anymore, which didn’t seem like such a big deal because breaking is not going to be in the Olympics (at LA 2028) any way,” she said.
“But you know, I’m still going to be part of community jams, or I’d like to go to community jams and still and still dance and still break – never used the word ‘retire’.
“But, you know, it just caught on to the news cycle.”
Today host Sarah Abdo then interjected to ask: “So you’re not retiring?”
“I’m not retiring,” Gunn replied. “You try and stop me. I’m not ever going to stop dancing.
“So if you hear that again, you know that it’s not the truth.”
Gunn, 37, went on to say that breaking was a “lifestyle” and that “you can’t retire from culture”.
“You can’t retire from an art form. so that’s why I’m never going to stop.”
Last week she told 2DayFM’s Jimmy & Nath for Breakfast she was “not going to compete any more”, citing the “level of scrutiny” she now faces.
Word of Gunn’s so-called retirement spread around the world last Thursday, with the even the New York Times reporting that she had quit following the backlash from her controversial Olympic performance.
On Monday morning, she reflected on the three months since the Paris Games saying she was “doing much better” after facing an initial storm of criticism.
“It was really tough for a while there,” Gunn said.
”And getting used to this whole new world, this whole new reality.
“But I am doing much better. And honestly, the support has been amazing and the positivity and people reaching out to me has been really, really special.
”And that’s what I like to hold on to.”
The Sydney-based dancer was brought out on stage at musician Tones & I’s concert at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.
Footage from the show captured Raygun busting out her now-iconic moves, including the Kangaroo pose which has been copied everywhere from the schoolyard to Halloween costumes and on US late night host Jimmy Fallon’s program.
“It was such an amazing experience, the crowd was amazing, the energy in the room,” she said of the Tones & I concert.
“I mean Tones & I is such a beautiful, kind supportive person and to invite me up on the stage was just amazing.”
She also addressed the “love-hate relationship” that exists between her and the Australian public – some of whom have backed her and others chastised her.
“I seem to be quite polarizing. I think people either love me or hate me,” Gunn said.
“And look, you know that I’m not everyone’s cup of tea and that’s fine.
“There’s a whole lot of different approaches in breaking, and that’s what I love about the dance. That’s what I love about the culture.
“And so, you know, if you don’t dig my style, I really hope that people are going in and going to breaking events and seeing what else is out there and really getting behind our breakers.”
