SYDNEY (AP) 鈥 Australian breaker Rachael Gunn has told a Sydney radio station that she plans to retire from competition just three months after her unconventional routine at the Paris Olympics led to her being ridiculed and spawned conspiracy theories about how she qualified for the Games.
The now 37-year-old Sydney university lecturer failed to get on the scoreboard in all three of her competition rounds in August, with a routine that included unorthodox moves such as a kangaroo hop.
Gunn had initially planned to keep competing but said the experience had been so 鈥渦psetting鈥 that she changed her mind.
鈥淚 just didn鈥檛 have any control over how people saw me or who I was,鈥 she told radio station 2DayFM. 鈥淚 was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now. I think the level of scrutiny that鈥檚 going to be there, and people will be filming it, and it will go online.鈥
Breaking was being And it might be a one-and-done, not scheduled on the Olympic program for Los Angeles in 2028 or for Brisbane, Australia in 2032.
鈥淩aygun鈥 as she was known, was later , with some posts also questioning the Olympic qualifying process.
In a television interview for The Project on Australia鈥檚 Channel 10 in September, she told of and how she dealt with the very public reaction to her performance.
鈥淭hat was really wild,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f people are chasing me, what do I do? That really did put me in a state of panic. I was nervous to be out in public. It was pretty nerve-wracking for a while.鈥
She apologized for the commotion, but again defended her performance and
She had previously defended , and reiterated it on the TV program.
鈥淚 won the Oceania championships. It was a direct qualifier,鈥 Gunn said. 鈥淭here were nine judges, all from overseas. I knew my chances were slim as soon as I qualified,鈥 for the Olympics.
鈥淧eople didn鈥檛 understand breaking and were just angry about my performance,鈥 she added. 鈥淭he conspiracy theories were just awful and that was really upsetting. People are now attacking our reputation and our integrity 鈥 none of them were grounded in facts.鈥
Gunn鈥檚 performance was mocked online and on television, including in a sketch on
In her Sydney radio interview Wednesday, Gunn said she won't stop breaking entirely.
鈥淚 still dance and I still break." she said. "But that鈥檚 like, in my living room with my partner.鈥
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AP Paris Olympics:
