You can take it as feel good story of someone who is trying their best.
You can also take it as someone disrespecting an entire culture on a global stage. Breaking was already met with skepticism when it was announced that it would be apart of the Olympics. Most people were asking themselves is this really a sport? But with it being added to the Olympics came the chance of actually solidifying the public stance that this is a skill that requires nificant effort and athletic capabilities. Vast majority of regular people still think dance is just a silly thing that requires nothing but a bit of practice. This could’ve been a gateway to establishing breaking and all other dance styles require the same amount of effort, skill, time, physical capability of other sports and should be treated as such. But instead of praising the bboys for showcasing impressive athletic ability and introducing more people to the culture or helping the other bgirls show to world that this shouldn’t be a male dominated field, she just helped proved that breaking was just something France wanted to be quirky with.
“Everybody is talking about breaking because of Raygun!” No everyone is making fun of it and diminishing the achievements of the winners of the competition. The focus is solely on the joke of a performance she gave rather than giving any acknowledgment to the other competitors who have sunk almost their entire lives to developing and honing their skills and elevating the culture.
If an Olympic swimmer ended with a time almost double the time of the next placer and was doggy paddling the whole, then said “well I’m here for the experience” we wouldn’t be praising her for being courageous and trying no we would be saying we can’t believe she beat someone else out only to perform like this. The other swimmers might appreciate an easier win but also disrespects the time and effort put in to get to this place. If you spent years of training to compete in one of the largest stages in the world only to win by essentially default, would you feel like this was medal well earned?
Or take Hiro10 who even despite knowing he was going to lose decided he would put his all into his last set and gave us a phenomenal final set should be on the same stage as her? I was truly emotional watching him leave the competition because you can tell his heart and soul was into his style, that there were years practice and experimentation that finally earned him a way to this place. And Raygun is supposed to be someone that can compare.
For someone who supposedly studied and respects the culture, she’s genuinely done a disservice to breaking. It was long shot that breaking or any other dance form may stay long term in the Olympics but Raygun guarantees we won’t see it again. This was an actual chance for people to what depth breaking has and go beyond what is in movies.
This is a meaningless rant but as someone who made this their life actively for 7 years and passively for 4 I’m disappointed that this is how the culture gets shown to the world.
I’ve been in awe of breakdancing since I was a kid. I respect the culture, and the skill it requires to perform at a high level. Raygun had no business being there and the fact she was there is a total slap in the face to breaking culture. She couldn’t even do a basic six step or proper freezes let alone have rhythm. Australia drenched breakdancing in a bottle of mayonnaise
Never heard so much fucking whining about anything in my life. Just have a laugh and move on for fucks sake.
Meh it was just the prelims and there are always people in prelims who are noticeably worse than others. She is only viral because it was dancing and she’s a white lady imo. Yeah it was silly, yeah she probs took the spot of someone better. But the world still turns, it was funny. We all had a good laugh. The kangaroo hop was objectively hilarious
Given the breaking community didn’t even support their sport being in the Olympics due to it being hijacked by the WSDF who run ballroom dancing, I’d assume they were mostly happy it was a failure of sorts.
As for Raygun, love this story, a have a go hero, is a part of the Olympics from Eric the Eel, to Eddie the Eagle Edwards etc.
I for one can’t wait for the Raygun movie, a story of a plucky Aussie house wife who dreams of going to the Olympics. But learns breaking Australia don’t want it, so sets up the qualifying event to try and encourage the breakdancers of Australia to apply and joins in as a joke but miraculously nobody good shows up and she qualifies for the Olympics, lol.
Rebel Wilson would make a great Raygun, Cate blancett and Toni Collette in supporting roles with cameos from Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe and Paul Hogan. 50% cool runnings, 50% strictly ballroom.
Paul Hogan? Is he still going? He’s got to be about 120 years old.
I’m confused, doesn’t she need to qualify for the Olympics?
If she did qualify to represent Australia, then what’s the problem?
Raygun is just someone to place blame.
It would have underwhelmed regardless, the judging system sucked.
I don’t want to see twisting arms and legs holding in a weird position, I want to see flips, flares and other impressive shit. I’d already lost interest well before her due to the weird shit between the acrobatics.
Google search Eddie the Eagle. Also see Jamaican bobsled team 1988 version. They haven’t cancelled ski jumping or bobsledding as far as I can see
Hell, a woman marathoner ran/walked this year and barely finished in a time under 4 hours. She was almost 1.5 hours slower than the Olympic qualifying time. They will keep holding the marathon even though she was not competitive.
All three of those sports by those times were established and recognized sports. How many people do you think watched Raygun performance thought wow that’s hilarious and didn’t even try to watch the men’s league or even the rest of the women’s league. If her performance led to people actually researching and getting into what breaking is I wouldn’t be typing. But no it’s established that breaking shouldn’t be in the Olympics and is just silly thing where slide on the floor.
The first two you mentioned: Eddie broke mold and brought some light heartedness to the competition that is normally cutthroat, he actually accented the skill level of the other skiers The bobsled team was an actual underdogs story, adverse or in this case inverse environments can still produce athletes. In the case of the marathoner (from Bhutan correct?) I would agree with you if she decided to walk the entire marathon with a bag of chips and a soda in her hand.
It’s the attitude Raygun brings the fact she and the Australian government thought people were making fun of her for her gender. Each of these athletes actually brought their best effort. Even some of other bgirls in the competition weren’t doing great by regular standard but we aren’t thrashing them because they actually tried. Eddie might’ve played into the part of doing more poorly than everyone else and making it lighthearted but Raygun genuinely believed she got low scores because of her gender.
I only know who Phil wizard is after searching for videos of Raygun. If there were no Raygun, I’d have felt about breaking the way I feel about skateboarding and wouldn’t have given it a second look.
I’m 44 now did a bit of breaking back in the 80s and 90s as a kid.
I seriously reckon no practice, straight off unplanned I could have taken her.
I sure as hell couldn’t pull.of any power moves anymore but neither did she.
I’ve not had a go in like 30 years…I’d be adding adding in a bit of robotics and body popping, she wouldnt kniw what had hit her 🤣
If an Olympic swimmer ended with a time almost double the time of the next placer and was doggy paddling the whole, then said “well I’m here for the experience” we wouldn’t be praising her for being courageous and trying no we would be saying we can’t believe she beat someone else out only to perform like this.
I’m guessing you are too young to remember Eric the Eel.
This is the exact scenario you described - he swam the 100m in 1:52, 50 seconds slower than the next slowest swimmer and over a minute outside of semifinal qualification. His time wouldn’t even have qualified him for the 200m semifinals.
He was praised for his courage and became a cult hero.
Please don’t compare a guy that never saw a 50m pool before from a dirt poor country who literally did his best to some super entitled arrogant lady from a rich country who thinks she knows best.
Raygun just landed a big turd and now is blaming everyone like “you don’t understand me and my art”
Where did I compare the two? I didn’t mention Raygun at all in my comment.
Came here to remind OP of Eric The Eel too : )
That was really interesting, thank you so much for sharing.
But swimming was a well established sport long long before Erick. OP point is that Raygun help to kill the sport as an Olympic event. Let’s be honest, break become a meme for most of us whom don’t have a clue about the sport.
She did no such thing. The lack of organization and letting ballroom dancing org coop the Olympic qualifying organization killed break dancing in the Olympics.
It was never gonna be in LA 2028 anyway.
Ok stop spreading lies, breaking was already confirmed to not be continuing long before the event, LA had already made it publically known they weren’t keeping it
I didn’t spread shit, I was just clarifying what OP was saying.
difference being it wasnt the first time showing for swimming at the olympics and we are in the age of clout chasing so through the eyes its difficult to assume someone as earnest. id say the best thing to come from this debacle is her rightly being slammed for it and that there seems to be a conversation had about the validity of the sport and the respect for the skill and dedication needed. conversation we would likely not have had had she not done what she did… oh shit
I did actually completely forget about Eric but forgive me if I’m incorrect but Australia is not a developing country. Australia is not a country that the entirety of the country lacks resources for people to learn about breaking. (Granted after that performance I am rethinking that statement)
All of the other Olympians who you are thinking were underdogs with poorer athletic performance have a backstory of a poorer nation, virtually zero infrastructure for the sport itself, or are literally refugees. Granted I believe there were a few that were sent due to nepotism (thinking of a runner that was a prime ministers or somethings niece I think) but for the vast majority of these people this is the actual best these people could do.
My complaint is she is a supposed expert in breaking a Bgirl with a PhD on the culture. She wasn’t breaking barriers by acting goofy and stating she was just there to have fun and experience the Olympics. All of the other people there, all of the athletes who have also performed terribly, Eric the Eel all tried their absolute best. Raygun did not.
I mean she’s a 30 something year old mom that probably is her best. What it might not be is Australia’s best
All of the other Olympians who you are thinking were underdogs with poorer athletic performance have a backstory of a poorer nation
Eddie the Eagle? 🤔
LOL yeah raygun needs to go back to clown town
Harsh but much needed
It must have sucked seeing people focus on your sport for the wrong reasons, but I think you’re giving one performance too much power. If anything, I expect they’ll put in a better process for qualifying next time a host country requests it. And hey, Australia is hosting 2032 so it would make a good redemption story for them to field some solid competitors.
Breaking as an art doesnt live or die by one woman in a cricket uniform hittin em with the Kath & Kim remix.
Relax
Does it live or die by her performance? No
Do I enjoy something I care about getting ridiculed on a world level because someone decided that they should have the limelight for having a PhD? I also do not.
She was 1 competitor out of MANY, all who left her in the dust with their ability. Seems pretty disrespectful to act like the majority of talented entrants dont matter, miss thing and her funky roo moves dont outweigh the rest
One Australians performance doesn’t have any impact at all into whether or not Breaking becomes an Olympic sport. But it does highlight a massive problem with Breaking becoming one. There are only like 5 countries in the world that have developed, professional breaking scenes. Everywhere else almost nobody competes in Breaking so you have a tiny pool of amateurs available to represent every other country. Without spending a lot of money to develop the sport internationally how do the Olympics overcome that? There probably is not a nation in the world that spends more money per capita on their Olympics team than Australia, and even they spent zero on Breaking.
We just need a fuckin thread for all things Raygun
Rachael “Raygun” Gunn on the new sport that will invigorate the Olympics
from The Economist