Where do you stand on the Raygun break dancing fanfare?
For or against her inclusion in the games and performance.
Raygun - Legend or Letdown?
mr fox on 12/08/2024 - 11:33
Poll Options
- 87Fantastic, what a legend
- 372Self indulgent, disappointing
Comments
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Your not helping me with that reference.
From what I'm reading, Raygun and her friends run the AusBreak competition which was the qualifier for the Olympics. AusBreak is a small Sydney based Breaking competition that sees 10 or so people show up regularly.
Since their members have links with DanceSport Australia (an entity that runs Ballroom dancing competitions) they became the officially recognised Breaking body by the IOC.
So essentially her small group of friends selected her for the Olympics rather than the position being earned on merit (i.e. by being one of if not the best female break dancer in the country).
Thanks I was looking for this. Seemed weird to me since every sport usually requires qualifying and some board or competition for the selection process to work out who goes and who doesn't. So I wondered whether that somehow didn't happen in this case, or something odd went on in the selection process.
Ah nepotism, the cornerstone of our nation. I'm not surprised if she has her own little group that operates outside of other governing bodies, it makes total sense that's how she'd get to the Olympics rather than all the other capable b-girls out there. I wonder then how J Attack qualified?
If you go to the AusBreak website you can see that J Attack is part of her dance troupe.
I seen people on So you think you can dance Australian version break better
I can't Break better than that.
I doubt many dragging the performance can Break better than that.
I have seen many who can Break better than that defending her efforts.
I can't Break better than that.
I doubt many dragging the performance can Break better than that.
I really dislike this position.
You don't have to be a world class chef to know if food is good or bad. In the same way you don't have to be a good dancer to know that was not breaking, and there are lots of better people out there than that.
I can't Break better than that.
But can you break worse?
Legend. Single-handedly exposed millions of naive normies to the absolute farce that is the modern West, Olympics, academia, etc. Somebody who has coasted through life on a golden escalator being judged, for the first time in her life, outside of a safe-space bubble where talent and ability are all that matter. A PhD, university lecturer who makes bank talking at zoomers about queerness and colonialism in breakdancing coming face-to-face with the working class Aussies and boomers who have somehow - until now - been able to mostly ignore how far our culture has degenerated.
An overweight dorky millennial woman gyrates on the floor. Rolling around like de Louboutin in his grave. If this is a world class athlete then the world has no class.
If this is a world class athlete then the world has no class.
The world might be a bit of a stretch, I think it's fairer to say Australia has no class.
Wonderfully said. The only thing that might be funnier and more pathetic than her routine is her interview.
I missed it, what did she say??
The problem isn't that she tried and didn't get a medal, it's that she shouldn't have even been there .
Read up on the controversy around DanceSport Australia and you'll quickly piece together how this dreadful performance happened.
The most hilarious thing is that she actually believes she is a good dancer. Delusions of grandeur.
Couldn't they get someone from that kids show dance academy
Some good breakers in thatThey could go to any given Westfield and find better ones outside
I heard the parents say, that whatever Rachel brings home, it's going "Straight to the Participation Award Room!"
Embarrassing, self-indulgent with no self awareness or sense of irony. What could have encouraged young aussie kids to get into a cool hobby instead served to make a mockery of what is supposed to be elite-level competition.
Eric the eel, Eddie the eagle, now Raygun. Legends of underachieving
No, the first two were actually the best in their respective countries at something.
yeah I keep seeing this comparison, and I find it so off!
She is probably my favourite thing about this Olympics.
Duno about that, Turkish shooter dad guy was pretty epic.
She conned her way into the Olympics just to embarrass herself.
Many people have said this but no-one's posted any links yet…
There was no sportmanship shown. She was laughing in the face of her opponent. That in my mind is not an Olympic sport. Is that what we want to see?
If high school playground rules were in play, I know what would happen to her.
Lol. At first I thought it was a joke, and I thought to myself it was a good joke. I did have a giggle watching the routine. Then I realised she and her supporters were actually serious, which makes this a GREAT joke.
She got all 0s
Very dodgy sounding how she became our participant.Disappointing all round
It was incredibly selfish of her to take the spot of somebody who deserved it more. If we were going to give it to somebody who didn’t deserve it, at least find a young girl who can be a role model to others in the sport. Not this joker just using it to pad her resume.
The fact that she said she KNEW she couldn’t compete so didn’t even bother trying is what pisses me off the most. What a selfish, selfish woman.
Don't kid yourself freekay, If a B-Girl ever got the chance, she'd break badly in front of you and everyone you care about!
not sure if it was a piss-take… but like all "art"… what is good and bad is subjective to the person. If her performance was done with honest intentions all we can do is say good job lol.
It was a pisstake. J Attack is in her crew, which is suspicious enough on it's own, but she can't claim to not know which are the pleasing/scoring moves.
This guy on reddit found some previous international results for Raygun. It includes a 2021 contest that included the Gold Medalist.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAustralian/comments/1eq4k2w/co…
Honestly it's a national embarrassment and I can't comprehend how she was included over no doubt many other potentials. I really do hope that the international community don't judge us too harshly based on that….display.
We got enough gold medals, we can afford to throw a few events.
I'm in two minds. By the sounds of it, she was aware of her lack of technical ability, and hence chose an 'alternative' style. That must have taken some courage, and I can only imagine having the whole world laughing at you in response must be crushing.
That being said, there's obviously been a number of poor decisions made by so many parties for her to be in that position in the first place. She teaches the subject, she is married to a break dancer, she's immersed in the culture. Surely someone along the way would or should have pulled her aside and given a reality check. But even putting that aside, the selection process was obviously flawed. As plenty of others pointed out, you could find more competent break dancers busking in the CBD.
This is the girl "Holy Molly", who she beat at the Olympic qualifier (and at the 2023 World Championships): https://youtu.be/52oUogbvL9I?si=O5NakpQngWhj-lNu
Who?
heads to YT
Edit - wtf was that?! 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ talk about embarrassing 😳
And now Adell is paying out on her live in concert ?
Ok , I gotta watch this .We need a poll for worst Olympic events / ones that need cancelling. I'd create one though I'm too lazy.
One controversial one I'd have would be a swimming event. Does breaststroke or backstroke really need multiple events? Other than breaking, the medley walking event.
Well you only have to search the letter “r” in google for it to come up .
I’d say the routine was too short to judge good or bad ,
but it was a mix of interpretive aboriginal dance and whatever passes for breaking these days , but she was definitely trying to bring an Aussie theme to a worldwide audience , just too short a timeframe she had to be anything really.
With a bit more time she could have shown us the go Anna go or maybe some croc rock-it .
Just a bit more time dam it .
I don’t see how breaking could even be classified as a sport to begin with. No one had any genuine Olympic level skill. All in all the while “sport” is an embarrassment to the games and shouldn’t be repeated. Even so, the Aussie was so unskilled compared to the competition that she should never have qualified.
It should have been a team sport, crew on crew. If you've never seen a BC One comp then it's easy to see why you wouldn't classify it as a sport. By the same logic though, floor routines in gymnastics, etc, shouldn't be classified as a sport. I think it was a highly disappointing format which could have actually been an epic showcase of athleticism, but instead became a farce, due in large part to Ray Gun herself.
I think there is a lot more skill in the rhythmic gymnastics and I’m pretty sure the judging criteria are pretty solid and not just vibe based. Even so, I do tend to agree with you. Breaking is far from that level though.
You can't tell me that this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUqKn-z5Yg0And this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TtY-FN2htEAre not on the same level of skill. If anything the latter demonstrates a higher degree of athleticism than the former.
@MeatyOne: athleticism isn't the same thing as skill, they should have to submit their routines in advance like gymnasts and divers so they can be judged objectively
And yes ,
The “walking”needs to go as a sport .
Along with
Synchronised Swimming
Handball
Golf
Everything Equestrian
Takwondo
Maybe some of the cycling events and
Do we need to give pro tennis players Olympic medals
Bring back the Amateur status to the Olympics .Do we need to give pro tennis players Olympic medals
Their yearly grand slam isn't enough.
They need something to hang on the fireplace mantel of their yacht I suppose..
And the 50m swim. And like 3/4 of the swimming events. And hockey. And soccer. And Basketball (like who's really competing with a $1billion team?)
Basketball definitely needs to stay.
It shows how close teams that play well together can almost beat a team of superstars.
Who gives a shit about swimming or walking?
In my mind, the olympics was always about the best of the best competing to see who is "the" best.
Not about people having a go and then saying oh well.
The real shame of it is that if there was any chance of it becoming an Olympic Sport after the LA Games it would have to do well and impress at Paris ,
and I don’t think they got the format or timing right , like they didn’t have the belief or support in the first place and were set up for failure.
Shame really as it can be one of the most physical and impressive of athletic activities I have ever seen , and you only have to look a little bit into it to see some amazing routines .Breaking shouldn't be in Olympic in my opinion. If so, there are so many other dances that could be in.
But attack on Gunn is unwarranted. If we are to be disappointed, it should be on the officials who selected her with her skill levels.
There are so many athletes in other sports who couldn't make it because they were not up to Olympic standards.I don't know what's worse, that she conned her way to the Olympics, or that the Olympics seems to allow anything to be a competition. What happened to just having the standard track and field events… then people get all worked up when there's talk of having "e-sports" at the Olympics; that would be better than watching someone flail about on the ground.
Then it would be a 3day event like any other athletic event.
That would be a difficult to sell to advertisers .
If she was a pet the vet would say sorry guys it's time for the green dream….
Raygun destroyed by 9 year old.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0FoBqYdqcm4
If you don't let out an involuntary guffaw when Raygun starts, you're a better person than I.
^THIS!
This is all the evidence anyone needs. A 9yo showed "Raygun" up a year ago!
I don't understand how Raygun hasn't busted out a single windmill in all of the videos I've watched of her… she's 36, they aren't the hardest move to do and these days there's video tutorials on YouTube so it's unacceptable she doesn't seem to be able to do them.
these fringe 'sports' are there to promote and draw attention to attract interest so in a way she has achieved more for the sport than any medalist
In a good way ?
I feel sorry for her… it's not her fault she was picked, it's the idiots that picked her.
If someone offers you a free trip to Paris, all expenses paid, all access pass to the Olympics, a basically once in a life time experience that very few people (even rich famous people) don't get… you take it.
She was horrendous, she is certainly not the best female break dancer in Australia (I've seen girls at Westfields busking/dancing better!), but who would honestly say no to this?
You can attend ANY event by flashing your athletes pass, you can walk pretty much anywhere and casually chat to real Olympians. Free food, treated like a king/queen… wouldn't like that?!?I'd do it!
I'd score the same as she scored in her 3 heats (ZERO… not a single point in any of them), and have all those memories.I think she picked herself sooo..?
Easy choice .
Nobody would know her if not for her performance, now the whole world knows her……..Legend!
She's gonna live off this infamy for while and she will do pretty well out of it. As she has now gone viral she's basically a household name now, great for tv shows as she's a family friendly none offensive white female. Will definitely be on Dancing on the Stars next season, producers have probably already rung her. Worse comes to worse she will be one of the new members of the Wiggles.
Unfortunately for her peers she has tanked the sport though - while it was already canned for 2028, there is now zero chance it will be in 2032. I would be pretty pissed if I was a up and coming Breaker - basically no future opportunity to go to the Olympics.
Most depressingly accurate comment. She'll be on The Project and any number of snoozer Rove McManus productions too.
Pretty sure I saw her instagram profile early on had less than a couple thousand. Now its 70k. She live off this for a while.
Her routine was so low energy! Spent about an hour today trying to find out more about Australian breaking in general after seeing the memes. She deserves her score.
I watched her compete and can say the women she was up against were infinitely better. She's an embarrassment to the country.
Next time the town hall needs to be saved from property developers by radical young street dancers with their hearts on their sleeves, I'm calling someone else.
Her performance was cringe af
I don't t know why some people are getting so upset about it. The memes are gold and it was pretty much the highlight of very overall mediocre Olympics.
It almost made me forget the horrific opening ceremony, the child rapist volleyball player, the two men who won gold in the women's boxing, the death in the crossfit and the only fans pole vaulter twerking when she won.
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Not having a shot but McQ call it breakdancing.
https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/Deterritorializin…