Rachael “Raygun” Gunn used to be a breaker of social media when she competed within the 2024 Olympics.

The breakdancer, an Australian college lecturer with a Ph.D. in cultural evaluate, used to be the procedure of hateful comments from internet trolls after her viral performance at some level of the game's Olympic debut Aug. 9, all wherein she lost all three of her B-Lady spherical-robin battles. And Australia's Olympic chief used to be no longer having it.

“I in actuality devour Rachael,” Chef de mission Anna Meares said about the 36-year-feeble at a press convention Aug. 10, per Reuters. “and I explain that what has came about on social media with trolls and keyboard warriors, and taking these comments and giving them airtime, has been in actuality disappointing.”

The executive continued, “Raygun is an fully loved member of this Olympic crew. She has represented the Olympic crew, the Olympic spirit with immense enthusiasm. And I fully adore her braveness. I in actuality devour her personality, and I contain very disenchanted for her, that she has plot below the assault that she has.”

On social media, viewers had mocked Gunn's unconventional breakdancing moves, which included one dubbed “the kangaroo.” She later brushed off the comments.

“Don’t be worried to be utterly different, exit there and symbolize yourself,” she wrote on Instagram. “You never know the set up that’s gonna grab you.”

The Sydney-primarily based fully Macquarie College lecturer also well-known that she “used to be consistently the underdog” within the competition—which used to be obtained by Japan's Ami Yuasa, or B-Lady Ami—and mirrored on her queer vogue.

“All my moves are real,” Gunn told reporters after her performance, per Recordsdata.com.au. “I was never going to beat these ladies on what they devise very finest, the dynamic and the energy moves.”

She continued, “So I needed to transfer in a utterly different device, be ingenious and ingenious because what number of chances invent you get dangle of in a lifetime to invent that on a world stage?”

And speaking of vogue, Trolls also ridiculed Gunn's outfit, a green and yellow Australian Olympic tracksuit and matching cap. The Olympian replied to her vogue critics, writing on her Instagram Reviews, “Having a secret agent ahead to the identical stage of scrutiny on what the bboys wear day after nowadays.”

Meares well-known the history of misogyny that has been directed at female athletes for the past century.

“In 2008, she used to be locked in a room crying being desirous just a few male dominated sport as the true lady, and it took immense braveness for her to proceed on and fight for her opportunity to participate in a sport that she loved,” she said about Gunn. “That obtained her to winning the Olympic qualifying occasion to be here in Paris.”

Meares added, “She is the true breakdancer female that we salvage for Australia.”

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