Australia’s Olympians returned home Wednesday to launch a spirited defense of their breakdancing colleague against “awful” critics who have derided her zero points showing in Paris.
AFP reports the athletes, basking in a national record 53 Olympic medal haul, were asked about absent breakdancing colleague Rachael “Raygun” Gunn and were quick to back her.
Their pushback comes as an online petition calling for an investigation of Gunn and the selection process used for Australia’s breakdancing team, which they claim Gunn “manipulated” at the expense of better-qualified dancers, has raced past 21,000 signatures and continues climbing.
Swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook -– who won silver and bronze –- in Paris said criticism targeting Gunn was “disappointing”, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, while cyclist Matthew Glaetzer said no Olympian “should be spoken negatively about.”
Left-wing Labor Prime Minster Anthony Albanese also praised her while dismissing criticism as “unfair.”
“That she had a crack and the Olympics is all about participation and having a go, doing your best and representing your country. She did all of that,” Albanese told Nova radio.
“I think some of the criticism that she’s copped — there’s been a bit of a pile on — which I think is really unfair. Good on her for having a go and wearing a trackie while you’re doing it. I mean, how Australian is that?”
Dual gold-winning canoeist Jess Fox joined the rush to Gunn’s defence.
“It is devastating for her,” Fox told local media in Sydney.
“To see the toll… she is human and it is massive what she has been through over the last week. She has definitely been feeling it. There is a human behind all that, and people are so quick to be awful. She doesn’t deserve that,” Fox said.
As Breitbart News reported, the father-in-law of viral Gunn, aka “Raygun” for his part is blasting judges for giving her a zero score.
Andrew Free took to Facebook to air his grievances at Olympic judges who, in his view, did not consider his daughter-in-law’s “originality and musicality.”
Meanwhile New Zealand comedian Jemaine Clement added his voice to those challenging her achievements with one simple observation from across the Tasman:
Gunn has a bachelor’s degree in contemporary music, graduating in 2009, and a PhD in cultural studies, graduating in 2017.
Her PhD thesis, titled “Deterritorializing gender in Sydney’s breakdancing scene : a B-girl’s experience of B-boying”, focused on “the intersection of gender and Sydney’s breaking culture.”
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