A homemade statue of infamous Australian Olympian Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn has been erected in a Melbourne suburb.
The life-sized sculpture of Raygun has been spotted in Northcote, performing the signature “kangaroo” move that became the subject of so much ridicule during and after the Paris Olympics.
The tribute was first revealed by a caller to 3AW on Wednesday morning.
“Following on from her huge success of breakdancing in Paris, Raygun is now dancing in the streets of the north,” the caller said.
Looking at the photo of the statue, 3AW host Ross Stevenson was impressed.
“That is amazing, that is awesome! Someone’s put up a statue of Raygun,” he said.
“Is that in someone’s backyard or in a public thoroughfare?”
The caller responded: “It’s in a public thoroughfare, on the nature strip.”
Stevenson added: “That is outstanding.
“Look at the balance they’ve managed to achieve there with that statue. How do you do that?”
On the day she returned home to Australia with her Olympic bag in tow, Raygun emerged as the new world No.1 breaker in an unexpected post-script to her last-place finish in Paris.
The 37-year-old’s life has changed dramatically since her performance divided the world, with the academic spotted dining out with popstar Boy George and rubbing shoulders with Sir Richard Branson.
But as she landed back in Sydney with her husband Samuel in September, ready to return to a level of normality, the World DanceSport Federation catapulted Raygun into top spot.
Raygun appears as No.1 in the official WDSF world rankings for professional breakers for September.
Olympic gold medallist Ami “Ami” Yuasa was missing, as were Dominika “Nicka” Banevic and Liu “671” Qingyi after they won silver and bronze respectively.
Several other Olympic competitors were ranked below Raygun, who finished 16th in Paris ahead of only a disqualified competitor.
Raygun infamously failed to score a single point in her three battles at the Olympics against Nicka, Sya “Syssy” Dembele and Logan “Logistx” Edra.
Syssy also features in the WDSF rankings, sitting 12th, as one of a handful of Olympic competitors in the list.
Ukraine’s Anna “Stefani” Ponomarenko sits third in the rankings despite finishing ninth at the Olympics, with compatriot Kateryna “Kate” Pavlenko ranked 17th after finishing sixth in Paris.
On the men’s side, Australian teenager Jeff “J Attack” Dunne is ranked second by WDSF despite finishing 15th at the Olympics.
The Olympic breaking event did not offer points for the world rankings, which are calculated from eligible events.
