Two of the Australian darlings from the Paris 2024 Olympics are undoubtedly the Fox sisters, Jessica and Noemie who dominated the women’s kayaking events. Not only did older sister Jessica come home with two gold medals, but her younger sister Noemie won gold at her first Olympics and became the first-ever Olympic champion in the women’s slalom kayaking cross event.
Watching these two sisters over the course of the competition and seeing how they have trained and supported each other, leaves Australians in no doubt that these young women display all the traits that a true Olympian should.
After winning two gold medals in the canoe slalom events, Jess went up against her younger sister in the cross event. Jess was not able to make it into the finals, but the delight and excitement she showed for Noemie making it through, was only out-shadowed by her obvious pride and joy when her sister won gold. Jess jumped into the water to congratulate Noemie in a display of sportswomanship that the ethos of the Olympics would be proud of.
Australia cheered. Proud to have such gracious champions wearing the green and gold.
Then came the Olympic event that has literally rocked not only the nation, but the world.
You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t seen the public outcry after Australia’s best female breakdancer hit the stage at the Olympics to put a spotlight not only on this newly included Olympic sport, but also Australian’s most outstanding dancing talent.
Now many of you may read the above sentence with sarcasm after what was delivered by Rachael Gunn – AKA “Raygun”, however if you are to believe the Australian Olympic Committee, then that is exactly who they put forward to represent Australia.
The outcry came after “Raygun” displayed moves that included The Sprinkler, hopping around like a kangaroo and convulsions on the floor to name just a few. The issue with her performance is that many of her moves were neither breakdancing nor did they appear to be respectful of the dance form. “Raygun” herself admitted “I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best — their power moves. What I bring is creativity.” This mindset alone is a far cry from what the world has come to witness, where Olympic athletes do everything in their power to put their best foot forward as they go up against the world’s elite in their sport.
Earning herself zero points and becoming a viral sensation (for all of the wrong reasons), has proven that even ‘creativity’ has it’s time and place, and it clearly isn’t on the world’s sporting stage. Many people are now coming out saying that we should back her because she was brave enough to give it a go. As a professor at Macquarie University in NSW, I would stick my neck out and say that Rachael knew exactly what she was doing and would have been very aware of the response she’d get. Furthermore, if she had won other events to enable her to make it onto the Olympic team, I would hazard a guess, that her performance was a far cry from her best.
We can probably all agree that the routine was ‘creative’ – I’ve seen similar moves on Play School and Hi-5. We could probably also agree that it was some lighthearted fun that has left us all talking. But was it worthy of an Olympic performance and was it fair that a more serious dancer lost out on an opportunity? What “Raygun” has ensured, is that breakdancing will likely never be an Olympic sport ever again.
Yes, Australian’s are laid back and don’t mind a little tongue in cheek humour. If the performance was delivered at a high school assembly or a backyard BBQ, it would have been received far differently. However it was distastefully done – on the wrong stage and in front of the wrong audience.
When we look at how the Fox sisters and how Rachael represented Australia, we can all agree that the values and ethos of the Olympics brand was upheld by the sisters. The Olympic brand is strong. There is pride in being able to call yourself an Olympian where you get to compete against the best – even if you don’t win.
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