David Inoue
It was interesting watching the Olympics split between the first half while in the United States and the second half while visiting Japan. It was a lot harder to follow Team USA from Japan as my streaming was blocked by geography and the coverage obviously tilted very heavily toward sports Japan was doing well in. So, I did get a good dose of wrestling, especially women’s, rock climbing and, of course, breaking, where Japan’s Ami Yuasa took the gold medal. What did not receive as much coverage in Japan, but I saw plenty of on my newsfeed, was the performance of Australian breaker Dr. Rachael Gunn, aka Raygun.
Mediocre performances are nothing new to the Olympics. Pita Taufatofua from Tonga first participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics in tae kwon do but then proceeded to qualify to participate in the Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing. He came in 110th out of 112 skiers, a result slightly better than posted originally with several disqualifications due to doping. And, of course, there is the Jamaican bobsled team, first establishing nonwinter-based participants for winter sports.
So, on the face of it, Dr. Gunn should not be the target of such vitriol for what pretty much, universally agreed, was a poor performance and not worthy of Olympic representation. Many other athletes have done the same, gaming smaller talent pools for qualifying events to get onto the world stage of the Olympics. Many of her colleagues in Australia have lamented the small breaking scene on which Raygun has admittedly become one of the major leaders.
Most ironic is that Dr. Gunn, the professor, actually wrote a paper on concerns about breaking becoming an Olympic sport, that it would take away the essence of breaking and force it to conform to rules and regulations that might also exclude people from participation. And this is what makes what she did most odious. She pointed out the flaws in the system and then took advantage of the system to advance herself.
Without throwing Dr. Gunn under the bus entirely, many Australian breakers have alluded to a more diverse and vibrant breaking scene than portrayed by Dr. Gunn’s rise to the presumed “top” of Australian breaking competition.
And this is where Dr. Gunn the academic should have stepped back and recognized that perhaps she was not the best representative, and what should she be doing with her position as an academic and leader in the field to advance some of those who might otherwise not be seen or recognized by the process. Especially in an art form that is rooted in urban culture, and now as a sport, a ripe target for accusations of cultural appropriation and discrimination.
The Olympics and Paralympics are a celebration of athletic achievement. Fast, higher and stronger is the expectation, not to just “do your best and enjoy the party.” So many athletes have sacrificed so much for their sport to get to the point of competing at the Olympics.
The previously mentioned Taufatofua and Jamaican bobsled teams still put in the training effort. Taufatofua had already proven his athleticism by participating in a previous Olympiad in tae kwon do.
They seemed to try to do things faster, higher and stronger. Dr. Gunn seemingly put in a half-hearted effort, fulfilling none of the three major pillars of Olympic competition, and now seems more focused on promoting her social media brand and claims to be the victim.
Contrast Dr. Gunn’s path to the Olympics to gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who grew up in poverty in Brazil and came back to the Olympics faster, higher and stronger, defeating Simone Biles, the GOAT of gymnastics, for a gold medal in the floor exercise.
While we need to pay attention to stories like Dr. Gunn’s, that should only be to serve as a warning from repeating the same mistakes. Stories such as Andrade’s are the ones that truly make the Olympics special and worth watching every two years.
Looking forward to 2026 in Italy and, of course, 2028 in Los Angeles.
David Inoue is executive director of the JACL. He is based in the organization’s Washington, D.C., office.
