Australian Olympic breakdancer Rachael Gunn, known as Raygun, had no formal Games preparation overseen by her head coach because he was occupied with administrative duties, a new Netflix documentary reveals.
Lowe Napalan, head of the Australian Breaking Association, assisted Gunn only “a handful” of times in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, according to Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly.
The documentary says Napalan did not see the controversial routine she ultimately performed until shortly before Gunn took to the Olympic stage. “I had to not have a face of shock,” he says in the film.
Gunn had qualified for Australia through the Oceania Breaking Championships in Sydney in 2023. She later received a scholarship from the New South Wales Institute of Sport, allowing her to begin strength and conditioning work in February 2024, but was competing against athletes with years of experience at the highest level.
She failed to receive a vote from the judges in any of her three round-robin battles in Paris, while her kangaroo-inspired movements and sprinkler routine became a global online sensation.
The documentary, which is streaming on Netflix, follows Gunn’s preparations for the Olympics and the intense backlash that followed her performance.
