Australia's Rachael Gunn, known as B-Girl Raygun, competes in the Round Robin Battle at the Breaking Competition at La Concorde Urban Park at the 2024 Summer Olympics on August 9 in Paris. Her performance drew laughter and criticism, and now Gunn is responding.

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Raygun, the Australian breakdancer who received sustained backlash over her performance at the Paris Olympics, announced she is retiring from competition.

Raygun, whose real name is Rachael Gunn, said on Australian radio earlier this week that she did not want to endure the criticism that future performances might be recorded and posted online.

“It just won’t mean the same,” she said. “It won’t be the same experience because everything is at stake.”

Breaking was recognized as an Olympic sport for the first time this summer. During the competition in Paris, Gunn failed to score any points, losing 18-0 in each of her three round-robin bouts.

Reactions to Gunn's performance ranged from declarations that her moves were eccentric to questions about her place in the sport as a white woman in academia, given the dance style's roots in the early New York hip-hop scene. Her routine was turned into memes and spoofed on late night television.

“It’s surreal and still impossible to process,” she said.

Speech on Australian station 2DayFM The Jimmy and Nath ShowGunn rejected the prospect of future Olympic performance. “Let’s say would you compete in the Olympics again in four years,” asked show co-host Nathan Roye. Gunn quickly said no.

She added: “It was really disturbing because I felt like I just had no control over how people saw me – or who I was, who my partner was, my story.”

Although breaking will not be part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Gunn said before the backlash, she planned to continue competing after the Paris Olympics.

“It seems like a really difficult fight to take on now,” she said. “I mean, I still dance and I still take breaks, but it's kind of in my living room with my partner.”

Gunn said she relied on memes and positive messages from fans to offset the negativity.

Although Gunn didn't win a medal in Paris, he represented Australia three times at the World Championships and won the Oceania Breaking Championships last year.

She said she is working on other projects that “encourage people to dance, have fun, be creative and be themselves.”