A new Netflix documentary will confront the explosive false allegations that Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn cheated her way into the Paris 2024 Olympics with help from her husband.
The claims swept around the world after the Australian breakdancer received no judges’ votes across her three battles at the 2024 Games.
Part of Netflix’s ‘Untold’ series, Raygun: Breaking Badly examines her path to Paris, her viral routine and the misinformation that engulfed her after the competition.
The trailer includes footage from a viral video that falsely accused Gunn of benefiting from a corrupt selection process.
‘What you might not know is this breakdancing is actually one of the lesser of Rachael’s crimes,’ YouTuber The Dad Advocate wrongly claims in the clip.
‘Because Rachael Gunn basically cheated her way into the Olympics by stepping on the backs of more talented but underprivileged minorities and by receiving potent and blatantly biased benefits from her husband, the coach of the Australian breakdancing team.’
Netflix’s new documentary examines false allegations Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn cheated her way into the Paris Olympics in 2024
Gunn qualified by winning the 2023 Oceania Breaking Championships, which featured an international judging panel without any Australians involved
Her husband and coach Samuel Free (pictured) was falsely accused of helping Gunn secure her position in Australia’s Olympic team
The allegations were false. Gunn’s husband and coach, Samuel Free, did not judge the 2023 Oceania Breaking Championships through which she qualified.
No Australians were on the international judging panel, and the competition was conducted under the Olympic qualification rules.
Gunn secured her position by winning the Oceania title after defeating Molly ‘Holy Molly’ Chapman in the final.
She had also represented Australia at the World Breaking Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
An anonymous Change.org petition later falsely accused Gunn of manipulating the selection process and wrongly claimed she had established the organisation responsible for the qualifier.
The petition attracted thousands of signatures before Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll called for its removal.
He described it as ‘bullying and harassment’ and said it is ‘defamatory’.
Netflix said the documentary would show how Gunn’s Olympic performance was followed by ‘an avalanche of memes, misinformation, and conspiracy theories questioning how she ever got there’.
Gunn revealed she told her therapist before Paris that her darkest fear was having the entire world laugh at her
The 38-year-old said the initial jokes became a ‘growing monster’ as the tone of the backlash dramatically changed
Gunn retired from competitive breaking in November 2024 after receiving overwhelming criticism following her performance at the Paris Olympics
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The film also reveals that Gunn predicted the ridicule before travelling to Paris.
‘Right before the Olympics, I went to my therapist, panicked,’ Gunn says in the trailer.
‘She was like, “What’s the worst that could happen?” I said, “The whole world could laugh at me”. She’s like, “Do you think that’s reasonable?”‘
That fear became a reality after her routine, featuring kangaroo-inspired movements and unconventional poses, became one of the Games’ most widely shared moments.
Gunn lost all three battles 18-0 against American Logistx, France’s Syssy and Lithuania’s Nicka, eliminating her in the round-robin stage.
She technically received no judges’ votes rather than zero competition points.
The memes and jokes quickly spread before the reaction took a darker turn.
‘There was this frenzy. It was a growing monster,’ Gunn said.
The Australian breaker’s kangaroo-inspired routine triggered jokes, online abuse and conspiracy theories about her selection for the national team
Untold: Raygun: Breaking Badly will examine Gunn’s rise, downfall and reinvention when it premieres on Netflix on September 1
‘Some of the memes were funny, then the tone started to change. And it just kept getting more crazy.
‘I can’t just be a meme. Am I Rachael, or am I Raygun?’
The film also includes previously unseen footage from Gunn’s childhood and interviews with her parents.
Asked if they had ever imagined their daughter becoming an Olympian, Gunn’s mother replies: ‘Never.’
Her father bursts into laughter before saying: ‘Sorry, not the right reaction is it?’
Gunn was raised in Hornsby, in Sydney’s north, and trained in ballroom, tap and jazz before beginning breakdancing in her mid-twenties.
She met Free at university in 2008. He encouraged her to try breaking and later became her coach. They married in 2018.
Gunn completed a bachelor’s degree in contemporary music and a PhD in cultural studies at Macquarie University.
Her doctoral thesis examined gender within Sydney’s breaking community, while her later research covered street dance, hip-hop and youth culture.
She became a full-time lecturer at Macquarie University in 2020 and took voluntary redundancy in February 2026.
Since her retirement from competitions, Gunn has moved into public speaking and offers personalised videos through Cameo.
According to her website, Gunn speaks about resilience, creativity, mental health and ‘going viral and staying grounded’.
