The Australian Olympic Committee has criticized an anonymous online petition attacking controversial Paris Games breaking 💖competitor Rachael Gunn, saying the ♊petition was “vexatious, misleading and bullying.”
Last weekend, the sport of breaking made its Olympic debut.
One of the lasting images was the performance of an Australian b-girl known as Raygun — 36-year-old Sydney univers🌳ity professor Gunn — who did a “kangaroo dance” among other questionable moves durin🐼g her routine, and scored zero points.
Gunn was subsequently heavily 𝓰criticized for her performance with parodies even being played out on a in the United States.
Gunn, who has not yet returned to Australia following the Games, received strong support from Australian team chef de mission Anna Meares while still in Paris.
On Thursday, the AOC went a major step further, refuting numerous erro༺neous stories it says have appeared online since.
Chief executive officer Matt Carroll said the AOC had written to change.org, w🍷hich had published a petition criticizing Gunn and the AOC, demanding tha♋t it be immediately withdrawn.
More than 40,000 people have signed the petition claiming Gunn had “manipulated” Olympic qualification processes.
Carroll says the petition “contained numerous falsehoods designed to engender hatred against an athlete who was selected in the Australian Olympic team through a transparent and independent qualification event and nomination process.”
“It is disgraceful that these falsehoods concocted by an anonymo🍒us person ca꧋n be published in this way,” Carroll said. “It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory. We are demanding that it be removed from the site immediately. No athlete who has represented their country at the Olympic Games should be treated in this way . . . “
Online criticism this past week has included suggestions that the Oceania qualifying event held in Sydney last Oct൩ober was set up to favor Gunn, and questioned the judging which allowed Gunn to qualify.
The AOC said Thursday the Oceania qualifying event was con🐻ducted under the Olympic qualification system determined by the international governing body, World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) and approved by the International Olympic Committee.
It said the judging panel for the event was selected by the WDSF and consisted o🍒f nine independent intern🔯ational judges.
Unattributed social media comments also suggested Gunn and her husband, fellow breaker Samu𒅌el Free, had held 🍷positions within Australian breaking organizations.
“Rachael Gunn holdꦛs no position with AUSBreaking or Dan🧸ceSport Australia in any capacity,” the AOC said Thursday. “She is simply an athlete who competed in the qualifying event which she won.”
Breaking at the Olympics might be a one-and-done in Paris. It is not on the competition list for the next Olympics in Los Ange🉐les in 2028, and also is unlikely to appear in 2032 at Br🗹isbane, Australia.
