Breaking community defends B-girl Raygun and is hopeful for return to Olympic programme

PARIS: The breaking community wants the world to give B-girl Raygun a break.

The sport made its Olympic debut in Paris - it might never be back - and one of the lasting images was the performance of an Australian B-girl known as Raygun who did a “kangaroo dance” and scored zero points.

In a show of support on Sunday (Aug 11), the head judge of the breaking competition said 36-year-old university professor Rachael Gunn was just trying to be original. And the breaking federation says it has offered mental health support in the wake of online criticism.

“Breaking is all about originality and bringing something new to the table and representing your country or region,” head judge Martin Gilian - known as MGbility - said at a press conference. “This is exactly what Raygun was doing. She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was a kangaroo.”

The breaking and hip-hop communities “definitely stand behind her”, he added.

“We have five criteria in the competitive judging system and just her level was maybe not as high as the other competitors,” MGbility said. “But again, that doesn’t mean that she did really bad. She did her best. She won the Oceania qualifier ... Unfortunately for her, the other B-girls were better.”

Sergey Nifontov, general secretary of the World DanceSport Federation, said they’ve been in direct contact with Gunn and Australian Olympic team officials

“We offered (the) support of our safeguarding officer. We are aware about what has happened, especially on social media and definitely we should put the safety of the athlete, in this case, mental safety in first place,” he said. “She has us as a federation supporting her.”

Breaking - known to many as breakdancing, a term its performers dislike