Australian Olympic breaking athlete Rachael Gunn poses throughout a portrait session within the Sydney central enterprise district on April 17, 2024 in Sydney, Australia.
Cameron Spencer | Getty Photos Sport | Getty Photos
“Those that can, do; those that cannot, educate.”
That quote from George Bernard Shaw, usually thrown disparagingly at academics, has been convincingly debunked by Australian Olympian Rachael Gunn.
Gunn, who’s taking part in breaking on the Paris Olympics, might be cheered by her buddies, household and college students as she dances her method to the world’s grandest sports activities occasion.
The 36-year-old lecturer at Sydney’s Macquarie College with a Ph.D in Cultural Research can also be knowledgeable breaker, recognized to followers as B-Lady Raygun.
“In 2023, lots of my college students did not imagine me once I informed them I used to be coaching to qualify for the Olympics, and had been shocked once they checked Google and noticed that I certified,” Gunn mentioned.
“Once I was a visitor lecturer at a distinct college this 12 months, a couple of college students got here down on the finish and requested for my autograph. That has by no means occurred to me earlier than, so it was undoubtedly a brand new expertise,” she informed CNBC in an interview.
A lot of her instructing and analysis is about breaking and hip hop tradition, in addition to gender stereotypes that encompass these dance types.
Rachael Gunn competes within the B-girl ultimate rounds of the 2023 WDSF Oceania Breaking Championships at Sydney City Corridor on October 28, 2023 in Sydney, Australia.
Mark Kolbe | Getty Photos Sport | Getty Photos
Breaking, for the primary time, has develop into an official sport on the Olympics, making it Gunn’s largest competitors to this point.
She represented Australia in 2021, 2022 and 2023 on the World Breaking Championships, and is called the nation’s finest feminine breaker.
Gunn who ranked 64 out of 80 breakers in final 12 months’s competitors in September, selected to push “more durable than ever” to qualify for Paris.
“In breaking, you simply by no means know what is going on to occur on the day. You all the time must be ready. I knew the stakes had been increased for the Olympic qualifiers, and ready 10 totally different units and made positive I included all the weather and strikes within the rounds.”
“I actually, actually, needed it, and so I fought actually arduous all through the competitors and simply put all the things on the market,” she mentioned.
Street to Paris
Gunn’s journey to the Olympic dance flooring was fairly difficult, particularly as she began breaking a lot later in her life.
However she was assured that being an older breaker gave her an higher hand.
“The youthful rivals are nice of their power, health, and explosiveness. However the older ones convey a distinct stage of maturity to the dance.”
Gunn mentioned to face out from the competitors in a sport that values originality and creativeness, she strives to present the judges a singular take.
“My specialty is fashion and creativity, not dynamics or energy strikes like many different dancers,” she mentioned, including that she has developed her personal strikes, sequences and her personal method of transferring.
“I’ve ticked most of those containers as a result of it is my specialty. I do not know if it may be valued as a lot as a few of the different standards, however I hope persons are nonetheless wowed by what I convey because it’s one thing totally different.”
From ballet to faucet, Gunn was launched to many alternative types of dance at a younger age, however her introduction to breaking got here a lot later.
Australian Olympic breaking athlete Rachael Gunn is representing Australia as a B-Lady after qualifying for the 2024 Paris Summer season Olympic Video games.
Cameron Spencer | Getty Photos Sport | Getty Photos
She was 20 when her then boyfriend — now husband and coach — launched her to breaking, encouraging her to pursue the dance as a result of her potential to choose up the beat and rhythm of music a lot quicker than many different college students he skilled.
“I’ve a superb intuitive sense of musicality. I might all the time establish components of the music and was fast at choosing up steps, seeing the main points in steps, and getting my physique to do them,” Gunn mentioned.
Being an older dancer additionally meant that she needed to be extra cautious of being injured.
“My coach has criticized me for being just a little too cautious in breaking, but it surely has paid off. I’ve by no means been critically injured in breaking — solely twinges that had been very simply mounted by physiotherapy,” she mentioned.
“Once I first began, I did not have the higher physique power, or the power in any respect, required to interrupt and that is one thing I am nonetheless constructing over the past 13 years.”
Paving the best way for others
Though Gunn is now representing her nation on the world’s largest sporting occasion, breaking as a sport or dance type was not accorded that a lot respect.
“Notably in Australia, breakdancing was thought-about a little bit of a joke. Being an Olympic sport now gives an vital stage of legitimacy for breakers. It is one thing the broader public clearly neethe mded to take what we do critically,” Gunn mentioned.
Her circle of relatives initially had their very own reservations too.
“They had been completely satisfied that I used to be dancing once more since a lot money and time was spent once I was youthful, however they’d have most popular for me to tackle a extra female dance fashion,” she mentioned.
They’d have most popular one thing that didn’t contain coaching on the streets at night time, Gunn recalled, emphasizing that her dad and mom are way more supportive and keen on her craft now.
As she takes on the Olympic stage subsequent week, her thoughts can also be on the subsequent technology of dancers she hopes to inspire.
“We’re inspiring an entire new technology of individuals to get into breaking. That is so thrilling for us and we simply wish to share this tradition, this dance, and this sport.”
Disclosure: CNBC father or mother NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports activities and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer season and Winter Video games via 2032.
