The Australian Olympic Committee has condemned an anonymous online petition repeating falsehoods about how B-girl Rachael “Raygun” Gunn was selected for the Paris Games.
Matt Carroll, the AOC’s chief executive, said the petition – which also criticised Australia’s Chef de Mission Anna Meares – was “disgraceful” and amounted to bullying and harassment.
Gunn, a 36-year-old university lecturer, garnered widespread attention on social media for her performance in the Olympic breakdancing competition. She received no points from the judges and was eliminated in the round-robin competition.
The petition, which has been signed by more than 45,000 people, accuses Gunn of “rigging” the selection process for her own benefit and questions whether Gunn’s husband was on the selection committee.
However, Carroll said the petition contained numerous “disgraceful” falsehoods and was designed to stir up “hatred” against Gunn, who he said was selected through a transparent and independent process. He said he had written to change.org and “demanded” that the petition be withdrawn immediately.
“It is a disgrace that these falsehoods, fabricated by an anonymous person, can be published in this way. This is bullying and harassment and defamatory,” Carroll said in a statement.
“It is important that the community understands the facts and that people do not form opinions based on malicious untruths and misinformation.”
The committee’s statement refuted a number of claims made in the petition, stating that the judging panel for the qualifying tournament, which Gunn won, consisted of nine independent international judges. It also stated that Gunn did not hold any position with the organisations that ran the tournament, namely AUSBreaking or DanceSport Australia.
Gunn’s husband Samual Free – a professional breakdancer and Gunn’s coach – also held no position with either association and did not serve as a judge at the qualifying event, the statement said.
It also stated that Gunn was legitimately nominated after winning the qualifying tournament and that there were no objections from the other competitors. In addition, Meares was not involved in the qualifying tournament or in the nomination of the athletes.
“The AOC is particularly outraged by the insult to our Chef de Mission, Anna Meares. The Chef de Mission of the Australian team played no role in the qualifying competitions or in the nomination of athletes to the AOC selection committee, of which the Chef and I are members.”
Earlier in the week, Meares passionately defended Gunn, railing against “keyboard warriors” and saying Gunn was the “best (female breaking competitor) we have for Australia”.
Members of the Australian breaking community described Gunn as a respected member of the local scene, but said her performance at the Olympics did not reflect the Australian standard of breaking.
One member said there were a number of technical factors that prevented many of Australia’s best B-girls from participating in the Olympic qualifying event.
