{"id":427026,"date":"2024-10-16T19:10:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T19:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=427026"},"modified":"2024-10-16T22:09:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T22:09:27","slug":"breaking-stars-message-to-raygun-after-cruel-ordeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=427026","title":{"rendered":"Breaking star's message to Raygun after 'cruel' ordeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A US Olympic<\/a> breaker\ufeff who danced in Paris<\/a> has declared the Raygun storm<\/a> had a positive impact on breaking and is confident the sport will remain in the mainstream consciousness despite the fact it won't feature at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the avalanche of ridicule and vicious criticism directed at Rachael Gunn following her performance at the Paris Games, Texas-born breaker Jeffrey "B-Boy Jeffro" Louis<\/a> also said he hoped the university lecturer from Sydney was coping in the wake of the blowback and admitted "the world can be cruel".<\/p>\n

In three Olympic battles that yielded no wins and zero points, Gunn almost single-handedly turned breaking into a sport that was suddenly being talked about by millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n

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Her routines, in which she pulled off dance moves such as the hopping kangaroo and the sprinkler while decked out in a Team Australia tracksuit, triggered a barrage of memes, sparked relentless jeering in mainstream media and even saw Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show<\/em> mock the Olympian with a skit that went viral.<\/p>\n

While many people were laughing, many were also fuming, including the tens of thousands who signed a petition calling for "immediate accountability and transparency"<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Two months after representing Team USA in Paris as breaking made its Olympic debut, Louis has touched down in Sydney\ufeff for a panel discussion and workshop aimed at promoting the sport.<\/p>\n

"Honestly, I think almost\ufeff all publicity is good publicity," Louis told Wide World of Sports, reflecting on the astonishing reaction to Gunn's Olympic campaign.<\/p>\n

"And I feel like a lot of people came and found breaking through the Raygun story and scenario. We wouldn't be having this conversation [the interview with WWOS] if it wasn't for Raygun. So it opened doors to a lot of people … A lot of people wouldn't know about breaking. Who's the top breakers? What are the styles like? What is the judging system? It brought a lot of interest into breaking.<\/p>\n

"If breaking went perfectly [at the Olympics], if the event ran perfectly, with nothing bad or good happening, then breaking wouldn't have gotten this light. So this is an opportunity, ultimately."<\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey\"Raygun<\/p>\n

Gunn's total of Instagram followers has sky-rocketed from about 35,000 pre-Games\ufeff to more than 200,000 post-Olympics, but the 37-year-old has largely been staying out of the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Since the Paris Games, her Instagram followers have been served up little more than an emotional video message and a post about a getaway with Richard Branson, the English business magnate, while she's virtually only given one interview, to Network 10's The Project<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I honestly don't see anything wrong with her performance," Louis said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffSeeing the kangaroo [hopping], knowing Australia, that's kind of what I took from it. I was like, [she's] Australian, kangaroo.<\/p>\n

"But I didn't really think much of it. I was just watching it from a face value thing; I wasn't really diving into too deep.<\/p>\n

"I just think everybody has the right to express themselves, and I think she should be happy that she got to the Olympic stage\ufeff and represented her whole country because it's a hard thing to do.<\/p>\n

"I hope she's all right. The world can be cruel."<\/p>\n

\"Raygun<\/p>\n

Breaking has been squeezed out of the Olympic program for Los Angeles 2028 and six sports have been added: baseball (men), softball (women), T20 cricket, lacrosse, flag football and squash.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI would love to see breaking in Brisbane in 2032," Louis said.<\/p>\n

"Breaking is so versatile. As breakers we adapt, we are innovative and we find ways to stay in the loop.<\/p>\n

"I think art is going to be our biggest medium in how to stay relevant. It's not just the skillset and the athleticism; I think we're able to be in modelling, music videos, we have our own competition … Anywhere you look you see designs, you see a poster, you see a music video. But now it's going to be elevated because now with the Olympic spotlight on us we can be the main act."<\/p>\n

Catch US Olympic breaker Jeffrey "B-Boy Jeffro" Louis at a panel discussion and workshop at SXSW Sydney's<\/em><\/strong> USA House<\/em><\/strong><\/a> from 3pm on Thursday, October 17!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A US Olympic breaker\ufeff who danced in Paris has declared the Raygun storm had a positive impact on breaking and is confident the sport will […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":427028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=427026"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427033,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427026\/revisions\/427033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/427028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=427026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=427026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=427026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}