On April 17, 2024, Australian Olympic cracker Rachael Gunn took a portrait in the Central Business District of Sydney, Australia.
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“Those who can do it, those who can’t teach.”
George Bernard Shaw’s quote is often used to disparage teachers, but Australian Olympian Rachel Gunn has convincingly refuted it.
Gunn is competing in a breakdancing competition at the Paris Olympics, and her friends, family and students will be cheering on her as she dances her way into the world’s biggest sporting event.
The 36-year-old lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney has a PhD in cultural studies and is also a professional disruptor, known to fans as B-Girl Raygun.
“In 2023, many of my students didn’t believe me when I told them I was training for Olympic qualification, and they were shocked when they looked up my qualifications on Google,” Gunn said.
“When I was a guest lecturer at another university this year, a few students ended up coming down and asking for my autograph. I’ve never had that happen to me before, so it was definitely a new experience,” she told CNBC explain.
Much of her teaching and research is about breakout and hip-hop culture, and the gender stereotypes surrounding these dance styles.
Rachael Gunn will compete in the B-girl finals of the 2023 WDSF Oceania Breaking Championship on October 28, 2023 at Sydney Town Hall, Australia.
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Break becomes an official sport for the first time It was Gunn’s biggest competition yet at the Olympics.
She represented Australia in the World Destruction Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and was hailed as the best female destroyer in the country.
Gunn, who ranked 64th among 80 batters at last September’s tournament, chose to “work harder than ever” to qualify for Paris.
“In breaking games, you never know what’s going to happen on the day. You always have to be prepared. I knew the stakes were higher in Olympic qualifying, so prepared 10 different sets and made sure I incorporated all the elements and moves are included in it.
“I really, really wanted it, so I worked really hard throughout the competition and gave it my all,” she said.
road to paris
Gunn’s journey to the Olympic dance floor has been quite challenging, especially since she started breaking the mold so late in life.
But she believes being an older disruptor gives her the upper hand.
“The younger competitors excel in strength, conditioning and power. But the older competitors bring a different level of maturity to the dance.”
Gunn said she strives to provide judges with a unique perspective in order to stand out in a sport that values originality and imagination.
“My specialty is style and creativity, not dynamic or power movements like many other dancers,” she said, adding that she has developed her own movements, sequences and ways of moving.
“I’ve ticked most of them off because it’s my expertise. I don’t know if it’s going to be taken as seriously as some of the other criteria, but I hope people are still amazed by what I bring to the table because it’s different s things.
From ballet to tap, Gunn was exposed to many different forms of dance at a young age, but her introduction to break dancing came much later.
Australian Olympic breakthrough athlete Rachael Gunn will represent Australia as a B-Girl after qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
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When she was 20, her then-boyfriend (now husband and coach) introduced her to break dancing and encouraged her to learn the dance because she picked up the beat and rhythm of the music faster than many of the other students he trained.
“I have great intuition about music. I can always identify parts of the music and be able to pick up dance steps quickly, see the details in the dance steps, and let my body do it,” Gunn said.
Being an older dancer also means she has to be more careful about injuries.
“My coach criticized me for being too cautious when pulling, but it paid off. I never had a serious injury while pulling—just stinging pain, which was easily fixed with physical therapy,” she said.
“When I first started, I didn’t have the upper body strength or simply the strength needed to break, and that’s something I’m still building over the past 13 years.”
paving the way for others
Even though Gunn now represents her country at the biggest sporting events in the world, breakdancing doesn’t get enough respect as a sport or dance form.
“Especially in Australia, breakdancing is considered a joke. Being an Olympic sport now provides significant legitimacy to breakdancing. It’s something the wider public clearly needs to take seriously what we do,” Gunn explain.
Her own family initially had their own reservations.
“They were happy that I was dancing again because I spent a lot of time and money on it when I was younger, but they would have preferred me to adopt a more feminine dance style,” she said.
They preferred something that didn’t involve evening street training, Gunn recalls, stressing that her parents are now more supportive and interested in her craft.
When she takes the Olympic stage next week, her thoughts are also focused on the next generation of dancers she hopes to inspire.
“We’re inspiring a whole new generation of people to get into break. It’s very exciting for us and we just want to share this culture, this dance and this sport.”
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