India, Aug. 10 -- Coming into the Paris Olympics, Rachael Gunn wasn't afraid to do things differently. And checking out of the Games as a breaker who broke the social media with those faceless trolls having a laugh at her expense, she wouldn't be deterred either."Don't be afraid to be different, go out there and represent yourself," she wrote on Instagram.Different has defined the Australian. At 36, Rachael is a professional breaker who also holds a PhD in cultural studies and is a teacher and researcher in Sydney. One of her recent research papers was on the gender politics in breaking, an artistic dance form making its Olympic debut at the Paris Games.Rachael - she goes by the name B-Girl Raygun - lit up the social media on Friday after her moves turned memes as she bowed out without receiving a point from the judges. The idea of judging in breaking by itself, however, has divided opinion within its larger community. But Rachael, who says she doesn't dance the way many of the other breakers here at the Olympics do, couldn't care less about opinions on social media."You can go out there and show people that there are different ways to break. You can show your individuality. And you could say something, artistically. Whether the judges like that or not, I don't know," Rachael told HT.She stands out in the breaking world in many more ways. She writes papers and teaches students when not training for moves, having tapped into breaking quite late in her life as a dancer after her partner introduced her to it in 2008."I was really interested in all these different elements of breaking. And adding something new to the vocabulary intrigued me.

"By then, Rachael already had an honours degree and chose to pursue PhD at Sydney's Macquarie University. "I always liked studying, I liked research, and then every job that I had, I didn't like," she laughed.While learning the nuances of breaking herself, Rachel got curious in exploring the cultural and literature side of the dance form with a rich underground culture, and the gender bias that existed in it. That became the subject of her PhD research."As I was starting to learn breaking at the same time, what became prominent was that there were these gender politics that could be explored and analysed," she said. "There were changes that I was undergoing as I was learning breaking, the changes in how people responded to me and maybe tried to police what I was doing."She also took up teaching at Macquarie University. Currently a lecturer in the media studies programme, she also takes guest lectures talking about breaking, its history and cultural significance and the sporting touch.Juggling being all of that - professional breaker, teacher, researcher - was no walk in the park for Rachael, especially last year when she was trying to make the Olympics cut through the Oceania qualifiers. She had to manage classes and write papers while training an average 15 hours a week and dashing off to international competitions to rake up points for qualification."I would always take my laptop with me wherever I went because I would always have to find an hour to do my work. It was definitely a juggle and it was intense at times."She felt like giving up her teaching hat earlier this year for the breaking gig leading into the Olympics.

"I was teaching on a new unit, I had to write lectures and I was finishing off a study that I did. At that point in time I was really wishing that I didn't have so many academic commitments, so that I could just focus on my training. But I got through it."And landed up at the Games. The Olympics can change lives, and for this teacher it has changed the way her students look at her in the university. Rachael first sensed it last year when she qualified for the Games, before she "updated it a bit and, um, got a totally different reception this year"."I had a few students come down and ask for my autograph and a picture," the Australian smiled. "I mean, that's just never happened before. They were saying, 'We'll be cheering you on. Best of luck'. It's so cool. That was a totally different experience."An experience she doesn't want to put an end to. Rachael wishes to continue breaking, teaching, building on her academic research work and exploring dance projects in Asia and Europe with her partner. "I'm only starting my exploration of breaking into a whole another field in the artistic world."Another hat on Rachael. Another way to be different."I'm so fortunate to be able to wear all these different hats, and, yeah, the juggling never stops," she said. "It never stops, and it keeps it interesting.

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