Jack Tame: The enduring impact of Raygun's Olympic performance

Of all the global stars to rise from this year’s Olympic Games —Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Dame Lisa Carrington— 36-year-old Macquarie University lecturer Rachael Gunn is perhaps the unlikeliest.  

Raygun, as per her stage name, is a true icon of these times. Not because she competed in the most modern of Olympic sports —breaking— but because through the power of the internet, her efforts have become arguably the most recognisable of the entire Olympic Games.  

If you haven’t seen Raygun’s performance, I don’t know where you’ve been. All I know is you don’t have social media, because the flood of clips and memes celebrating, remixing, and/or mocking her dancing has completely inundated every bite of every feed of every platform.  

When most of us think of breakdancing, we think of incredibly athletic people spinning and twisting. We think of spinning headstands, headslides, one-handed body freezes.  Really good breaking is just gymnastics to hip hop. 

Raygun didn’t do that stuff. She openly admits she can’t! Instead, she did a range of pumps and thrusts that honestly wouldn’t have physically been beyond the reach of many of those people watching.  

For all those people who thought the Olympics would be improved by having a mere mortal compete with the elite athletes, just to give you perspective of how good they really are? Anyone who saw Raygun’s signature move, the kangaroo, would have to agree. Yep, this was that.  

Part of me admires her chutzpah. Imagine having the confidence to go to the Olympic Games —the Olympics— only to pull out a dance routine reminiscent of Jack Tame at the Grumpy Mole circa 2003. The judges gave Raygun three straight zeroes!  

Internet culture has a way of fixating on a person or a moment with maximum intensity, only to move on a few days. The public shaming aspect must be so hard to endure. Raygun is a global icon this week. But soon enough, the internet will move on. 

Tell you what though, I think there will be one enduring impact from Raygun’s performance. I stumbled across a clip earlier this week that caught my eye. It was of a ridiculously good breaker, twisting and springing and spinning like a top gymnast on a pommel horse. He did a backwards worm, tumbling back towards the ground and seemingly bending his body against the direction of all his limbs. It was amazing!  

Who is this? Where is this? I wondered.  

Then I realised, it was the Olympics. Raygun’s performance was so extraordinary, it has completely overshadowed the medallists in her sport. So many more people have seen the kangaroo than have seen the actual winning performances. Can you name the Olympic breakdancing medallists?  

The IOC wanted to bring new audiences to the games. Breaking has certainly done that, just not in the way they anticipated. And if they’re weighing up breaking’s inclusion in any future games, the fact that very few of us will recall more than a plucky Aussie in a tucked-in tracksuit does not bode well for the Olympic future of the sport. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at B Jack Team.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Of all the global stars to rise from this year's Olympics,
Simone Biles, Kay Ladecki, Dame Lisa Carrington, you would have
to say that thirty six year old Macquarie University lecturer
Rachel Gunn is perhaps the unlikeliest ray Gun as per
her stage name, is a true icon of these times.

(00:37):
Not because she competed in the most modern of Olympic sports, breaking,
but because, through the power of the Internet, her efforts
have become arguably the most recognizable of the entire Olympic Games.
If you haven't seen Raygun's performance, honestly, I don't know
where you've been. All I know is you definitely don't

(00:57):
have social media because the flood of clips and memes celebrating, remixing,
and or mocking her dancing has completely inundated every bite
of every feed on every platform. When most of us
think of breakdancing or breaking, we think of incredibly athletic

(01:21):
people spinning and twisting, you know, we think of spinning, headstands,
head slides, one handed, body freezers. Really good breaking is
basically just elite gymnastics set to hip hop, right, But
Raygun didn't do that stuff. She openly admits she can't
do that stuff. Instead, she did a range of well

(01:45):
pumps and thrusts that honestly wouldn't have been physically beyond
the reach of many of those people watching, you know,
for all those people who think that the Olympics would
be improved by having a mere mortal compete with the
elite athletes, you know, just to give you perspective on
how good those athletes really are. I think anyone who

(02:05):
saw a Gun's signature move the kangaroo would have to
agree that, yeah, yep, this was that. Part of me,
part of me really admires her chutzpa. Just imagine for
a moment, having the confidence to go to the Olympic Games,
to go to the Olympics, only to pull out a

(02:26):
dance routine reminiscent of Jack Tame at the Grumpy Mole
circa two thousand and three. It's unbelievable. Internet culture has
a way of fixating on a person or a moment,
you know, with kind of maximum intensity, right, only to
then move on in a couple of days time and

(02:47):
the public shaming aspect you would have to say, would
be very hard for anyone to endure, no matter their confidence.
Ray Gun is a global icon this week, but soon
enough the internet will move on. I'll tell you what, though,
I think there will be one enduring impact from Raygun's performance.
I stumbled across a clip earlier this week that caught

(03:09):
my eye. It was of a ridiculously good breaker twisting
and springing and you know, kind of spinning like a
like a like a gymnast on a pommel horse, right,
except he was doing it on the ground. He did
this backwards worm, so he sort of tumbled back towards
the ground and seemingly bent his body against the direction

(03:31):
that all of his limbs open and closed. It was amazing,
Like it was really amazing. Who is this? Where is this?
I wondered, and then I realized it was the Olympics.
Raygun's performance was so extraordinary it has completely overshadowed the
medalists in her sport. So many more people have seen
the kangaroo than have seen the actual winning performances. Can

(03:56):
you name an Olympic breakdancing medalist? It's funny, right, You
remember the IOC said openly they wanted to bring new
audiences to the Games, and that was part of the
reason they chose to include breaking. You would have to
say Breaking has certainly done that, just not in the
way that the IOC probably anticipated. And if they are

(04:17):
weighing up breaking's inclusion in any future games, the fact
that very few of us will recall more than a
plucky Aussie and a tucked in tracksuit does not bode
well for the Olympic future of the sport.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
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