Is Australian Olympic Breakdancer "Raygun" Actually Talented?

[Anonymous]

In case you missed it, a female Australian break dancer nicknamed "Raygun" took to the Olympic stage in Paris to compete in the first ever break dancing competition, but lets just say, it did not go well...like at all. She left her head to head heat pointless in a 54-0 loss, the ire of many in the breakdancing community that feel like she put a negative spotlight on what they can actually do, and to the meme worthy mockery of people from around the world.

A few days ago, the 36 year old took to her Instagram to speak out on her experience saying: "I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me. I really appreciate the positivity, and I'm glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives. That's what I hoped. I didn't realize that that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating."

The athlete has said that she put in a lot of hard work for her creative performance with all the moves being her own, but of course a lot of people disagreed, including the judges. Some found her performance so bad that they filed an inquiry to see how it was she even managed to qualify to perform which the committee had to then show, that yes, she did indeed legally qualify to compete. In the video above, some have implied that it's because she's a woman, that people have gone so hard on her, which I whole-heartedly disagree with. There were plenty of very talented women who competed alongside her which did very well. No one said "every woman there was terrible."

My two cents is this. The Olympics aren't a place where you go to try and do your best or just participate for the participation trophy (because there is none). This is where the best of the best show up and show out and not only represent their country, but try and get on that podium. I've seen break dancing competitions where competitors will run, do successive flips, contort themselves into half back bends in the air where still in position, will twist their body around. My spine hurts just watching it.

This was a lady doing Kangaroo hops. You're saying THIS is top tier? You can go there and hop around and do a sideways sit up on the floor and win gold? Is this what she believes is the standard of competition for the Olympics, because I really need to hear that expressed in some coherent way that makes sense from someone who literally has studied dance as part of her Ph.D.

[ohsheeT]

I do not understand why they even had her in the Olympics I mean they must have remembered at the very last minute that it was a new competition and they had nobody so they just went and got somebody off the street because she was terrible and I feel so bad for her that her coaches and even Australia allowed her to even do that to herself they told her you're in the Olympics you're great you're good and oh my God but there's five year olds that do it better than her I feel so sad for her because I'm sure that people are still giving her crap for that

[myTake Owner]

Australians have emphatically said, there are better break dancers. Even I know that, and I've never set foot there, but end of the day, those awesome dancers would still have to qualify. They would have to show up at the Olympic trials, and pay the fees, and etc etc to get in, and many simply didn't do it. This event won't be in the next one in LA, not due to anything that happened here as that was decided long before the games) but I think many still enjoy it being on that street level as opposed to "being in the Olympics," because in competitions its more the audience who help decide the true winner.

[ohsheeT]

Yes there's many street dancers that could get gold gold gold all day long.. . I love to dance it's because I love music and if you can flow your body to the rhythm the beat. No matter how fast the tempo. The music is you can make your body go slow motion and still keep rhythm it's just a very beautiful feeling becoming one with music so I can come in one with somebody but yeah I think you're right there won't be any break dancing. Next Olympics I just felt so bad for her though. I. Seen online where Jimmy Fallon had her on his Tonight show and even that was kind of stupid but it's all right at least she made some money out of it

[Chazmatazz269]

Nope. She’s actually a legit villain straight out of an ‘80s breakdancing flick. No joke.

https://youtube.com/shorts/szBpJl2Ygco?si=TXON0P3RNRx1uWK3

[myTake Owner]

She, as in Raygun, says everything she did was legit, and you should look up how legit and that you're just a hater who doesn't respect her talent, mate. So that must be true.

[purplepoppy]

As I understand it there are a lot more talented Australians than her who are rightfully pissed off. To me it looks like someone who knew how to tick the boxes to rise up rather than someone who had mastered their craft.

[myTake Owner]

I agree with you. A lot of people online were saying oh, well, Australians are relatively new to the world of Breaking, but I've seen a lot of talent from this country in terms of dance, and this wasn't it. It felt embarrassing when the head of their organization was sitting in front of the media saying, "this was the best of our best."

[jackieistired]

She just wanted a free vacation and to be on TV. She’s actually pretty smart lol

[myTake Owner]

Well if that's the case, it backfired badly.

[Ms_Facesitter]

No. Saw a random youtuber do her exact same moves. A s a mockery but he did them just like her. All of them. A random person. If a random non breakdancer can do what she does it's hard to call her skilled.

[thearchjoker]

I saw the two guys who got silver and gold watch their performance and than compare them to ray gun and you can understand why everyone thinks she's a joke

[myTake Owner]

I'd love to see that, where did you find it?

[thearchjoker]

@myTake Owner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Vo866_jhY

[strateguy632]

Lucky you , when i have a "question mark?" they delete my mytake with the excuse it is a question.

[Breanna_nonbinary]

The one thing I know about dancing is that I don’t know how to do it. I know this because I look like her when I dance. I look ridiculous.

[Phoenix98]

No one I talked to thought what she was doing was was breakdancing and I’ll just leave it at that.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone actually care? I mean it's breakdancing. It should never have been an Olympic sport in the first place. The fact that it is just makes a mockery of the entire Olympic games.

[paledreams]

As an Aussie, I didn't watch her performance, yet for the last week and a half she was in a lot of water cooler convo's and around the media lol

[beefcakebradybatson]

Maybe she's Ronnie "Ray-Gun's" great-great-granddaughter, and does she have big spuds?

[FunkyMonkee]

No! Not at all!!