Two years after one of the most viral—and divisive—moments of the Paris Olympics, breaking is trying to make sure one Australian performance does not define an entire global culture.
Rachael Gunn, better known as Raygun, became an international phenomenon after representing Australia in women’s breaking at the Paris 2024 Olympics. She lost all three of her round-robin battles without scoring a point, while elements of her unconventional routine quickly became memes across social media.
But inside the breaking community, the concern today is no longer simply what happened in Paris.
It is what happened afterward.
“Breaking Became Raygun”
Veteran breaker and Olympic commentator David Shreibman, known as B-boy Kid David, told Reuters that the sport survived the controversy—but for millions of casual viewers, Raygun became their lasting image of breaking.
That perception is exactly what many breakers are now struggling to undo.
Breaking had entered Paris 2024 with enormous expectations. The Olympics gave the art form a mainstream audience, bigger sponsorship opportunities and expanding prize pools.
Canadian breaker Phil Wizard won the men’s Olympic title, while Japan’s Ami Yuasa captured women’s gold, showcasing the athleticism, musicality, improvisation and technical difficulty that elite breakers had spent years trying to bring to a broader audience.
Yet much of the mainstream conversation after the Games centered not on the medalists—but on Raygun.
Sponsorship Momentum Reportedly Slowed After Paris
Omar Delgado, the celebrated B-boy known as Roxrite and winner of the 2011 Red Bull BC One World Final, told Reuters that breaking had attracted more brands and larger prize pools during the buildup to Olympic inclusion.
According to Delgado, some of that support weakened after Paris, with sponsors pulling back and prize money shrinking.
That matters because unlike established professional sports with massive broadcasting contracts and centralized leagues, breaking has traditionally relied on a decentralized ecosystem of competitions, crews, dance schools, cultural organizations and commercial sponsors.
For many within the scene, the challenge is now to prove that breaking is far bigger than its most famous viral moment.
Raygun Herself Stepped Away From Competition
The backlash also had a significant impact on Gunn.
In November 2024, she said she would no longer compete professionally after experiencing intense public scrutiny following the Olympics, although she continued dancing recreationally. Gunn said at the time that the reaction had made returning to competitive battles extremely difficult.
Her Olympic profile nevertheless remains enormous.
Netflix is now preparing to release “Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly,” a documentary centered on Gunn’s unexpected Olympic rise, the viral reaction to her performance, and the misinformation and conspiracy theories that followed. Netflix’s official media center confirms the documentary as part of its Untold sports series.
That renewed attention has created an uncomfortable contradiction for some breakers.
The sport wants to move forward.
But the story that made breaking globally recognizable keeps pulling the spotlight backward.
Breaking Was Already Out of Los Angeles 2028
One important detail often lost in the Raygun debate is that breaking’s absence from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics was not caused by her Paris performance.
The sport had already been left off the LA 2028 program before the Paris Games took place.
That distinction matters because Raygun has sometimes been blamed online for breaking disappearing from the next Summer Olympics.
The timeline does not support that claim.
Breaking was included at Paris 2024 as an additional sport selected by organizers, part of an effort to attract younger audiences and incorporate contemporary urban culture into the Games.
Its removal from Los Angeles was therefore already decided before Gunn ever stepped onto the Olympic stage.
Dakar 2026 Could Become Breaking’s Next Major Olympic Test
Breaking is not disappearing from the Olympic movement entirely.
It is officially included in the sports program for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which will run from October 31 to November 13, 2026 in Senegal.
The IOC confirms that breaking is one of 25 competition sports scheduled for Dakar, the first Olympic sporting event ever staged in Africa.
For the breaking community, Dakar could therefore become something much bigger than a youth competition.
It could be an opportunity to reset the conversation.
Instead of explaining Raygun again, breakers could redirect global attention toward the next generation of dancers—and toward the creativity, battle culture, athleticism and musical improvisation that have defined breaking for decades.
The Grassroots Scene Never Disappeared
Ronnie Abaldonado, a Red Bull BC One All Star who works with younger breakers in Las Vegas, told Reuters that the culture already had its own ecosystem long before the Olympics arrived.
He said participation among students has continued, suggesting that the sport’s future may depend less on Olympic validation than many outsiders assume.
That may ultimately be breaking’s biggest advantage.
Olympic exposure brought money, sponsors and global attention.
But breaking existed for decades before Paris—and its strongest communities were built without the Olympic rings.
Now, after the sport’s brief moment at the center of the world’s biggest sporting event, those same grassroots networks may have to carry it forward again.
The unresolved question is whether breaking can use Dakar 2026, major independent competitions and its international culture to build a new public identity—or whether one viral performance from Paris will continue to dominate how millions of people see the sport.
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