Aussie breaker 'Raygun' is ranked first in the world despite horror Olympic performance

Australian breaker Rachael 'Raygun' Gunn tops the latest world-breaking rankings despite the Olympic performance that led to being trolled and memed on the internet.

Many are shocked that 'Raygun' is ranked number one in the world after scoring zero points at the Games in Paris. However, the World Dancesport Federation has clarified the situation.

The federation said the ranking methodology is based on an athlete's last four competition scores and doesn't include the Olympic Games. Due to the exceptional circumstances of there being no ranking events between December 2023 and the Olympics, many athletes only competed in one event.

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In 'Raygun's' case, her first-place finish at the Oceania continental championships in October 2023 earned her 1,000 points, making her the top-ranked dancer.

Her newfound fame and ranking have had their perks. The unexpected 'star' of the Olympics has signed with an influencer talent agency, following the Aussie breakdancers' viral performances at the Games.

She is now looking to capitalize on her newfound fame by working with Born Bred Talent, an Influencer Marketing Agency that represents some of the biggest social media stars in Australia and New Zealand.

This has only emerged as contact details for agency general manager Stephanie Scicchitano suddenly appeared in Gunn's Instagram bio this week.

Marketing and public relations expert Max Markson told the Daily Mail that due to her "brand recognition" she could be courting offers from some of the world's biggest companies.

"She has an enormous brand," he told Daily Mail Australia. "She will get international offers from sports shoe brands, like Adidas or Puma, food companies like McDonald's or KFC, electric cars like BYD, and she will get a phone company like Telstra or Optus or Vodafone."

Mr Markson said the going cost for an endorsement deal for American brands such as McDonald's or KFC is about $500,000 (US$320k/£255k/€295k) and he expected she could easily sign "three to five contracts," earning the dancer millions on the back of her divisive performance.

Despite the International Olympic Commission doing their best to remove videos of Raygun's performance from the internet due to copyright infringement, it has been viewed millions of times all around the world and continues to be widely shared and memed. 

So who is Rachael Gunn, and how did she get here? 

Rachael Gunn was born in Hornsby, New South Wales, and grew up dancing, specialising in jazz and ballroom. She would take up breaking in her "mid 20s", as the South China Morning Post reported.

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Immersed in the culture, in 2017 she completed her PhD on 'the intersection of gender and Sydney's breaking culture'. At this time she was competitively breaking and worked her way up to be Australia's number 1 ranked B-Girl in 2020.

She participated in the World Breaking Championships held in Paris in 2021 and in Seoul in 2022. She qualified for the Paris Games through the Oceania Championships in October 2023.

"I think a lot of people had doubted my ability to do it and maybe thought I was getting too old to be able to stay on top," she said, as reported by the South China Morning Post. "But I just kept pushing hard, I want to get better, and I want the scene to grow and get better."

Despite being highly experienced in the discipline, Gunn scored no points in her preliminary phase run at the Games. Feeling a little dwarfed by the skills of her rivals, she opted to do something a little different with her performances, taking inspiration from Australian wildlife, including snakes and kangaroos.  

"I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get in a lifetime to do that on an international stage?" she said, as the Independent reported.

"I was always the underdog and wanted to make my mark in a different way," she concluded. 

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