The Australian Professor Who Turned Breaking on Its Head

During the round robin on Friday, Rachael Gunn, also known as B-girl Raygun, laid on her side, reached for her toes, spun around and threw in a kangaroo hop.Breaking made its debut as an Olympic sport Friday, and among the competitors was Dr. Rachael Gunn, also known as B-girl Raygun, a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, who stood out in just about every way.

By day, her research interests include “dance, gender politics, and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies.” But on the world’s stage in Paris, wearing green track pants and a green polo shirt instead of the street-style outfits of her much younger fellow breakers, she competed against the 21-year-old…