Raygun

Pew Pew!

As the Olympics draws to a close, the biggest name out of Paris 2024 has emerged. No, it’s not Noah Lyles or Simone Biles, it’s the Thunder from Down Under, Dr Rachael “RayGun” Gunn, who competed in the women’s break dancing competition.

If you haven’t seen the footage, it really is worth a look. Depending on where you are, it might take a little scrolling of Peacock/Stan/YouTube/X, but it is quite a sight to behold.

A few thoughts on the matter:

• Break dancing, or breaking, is an entirely unserious enterprise. The fact that it is in the Olympics brings me no joy, and I look forward to it being wiped from the program in LA 2028.
• She wasn’t THAT bad. I watched the whole thing on Peacock, and while it was very easy to cut some clips together to make it look terrible, her earlier work was fine. Not as good as the other women competing, but fine.
• The outfit, which looked like it was inspired by 2015 ODI, seemed very much at odds with the rest of the competition.

Overall, it was a fun memory I will have of 2024, and I am glad that she has been able to take all the criticism in her stride. Some people have tried to draw parellels between nonsense being studied in academia and yesterday’s event, but I can’t be bothered with that.