Raygun steals show for Australia at Paris Olympics closing ceremony
Raygun put on an impromptu performance as the Australian team got around the viral breaking star in a heartwarming entree to the Paris Olympics closing ceremony.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Raygun didn’t pick up a vote in competition but she got 300 before the Olympic closing ceremony.
The wounds of a zillion taunting tweets were sweetly soothed a couple of hours before the ceremony as the Australian team wrapped its arms around Rachael “Raygun’’ Gunn, the breaker who broke the internet and became the Games most surprising breakout celebrity.
Raygun even put on an impromptu late afternoon breaking performance for the team before they left for Stade de France and the closing ceremony before 80,000 fans.
And – blow me down – she actually looked a bit sharper than she had in competition a few days earlier when she didn’t score a vote.
Rower Angus Widdicombe even hoisted her on his shoulders and carried her through an impromptu guard of honour as she did the kangaroo impersonation, which gained such notoriety the day before.
The heaving throng of Australian athletes sung Taylor Swift’s Love Story before performing the Nutbush and giving a rowdy welcome back to the Opals basketball team following their bronze medal success.
It looked every bit like a pointed “up yours’’ to the ferocious social media warriors who have let loose on Raygun over the past few days.
The Games have never seen a story quite like this one.
Adele stopped a concert in Germany to talk about her. Newspapers in the United States and England put her on the front page.
Gunn came to Paris as one of its most anonymous athletes. She leaves as global celebrity of sorts, a have-a-crack hero to some, the Countess of Cringe to others.
The Australian party at the village momentarily seemed bigger than the one inside the stadium and, after 18 Australian gold medals, there was plenty to celebrate for this was the greatest Australian Olympic team ever.
Before Kaylee McKeown took possession of the flag she carried inside the stadium with boatie Matt Wearn, she jumped on to the shoulders of another athlete, boom box in hand. After years of grinding training sessions, earlier nights and even earlier mornings, it was time to float on a breeze.
The Australians entered the stadium in a boisterous mood and even managed a “triple stack’’ where a male rower carried a mate on his shoulders with a female athlete sitting on both of them.
French-born Jess Fox, a two-time Gold medallist at these Games, had one last memorable honour when she was introduced to the crowd as one of a handful of newly elected IOC athlete’s ambassadors.
Fox was photographed in her yellow Australian shirt entering the stadium yet minutes later appeared in a different outfit as she was welcomed on stage. As if two golds was not enough at these Games – now she is performing magical tricks.
In a special honour, champion swimmer Emma McKeon, who flew into Paris after a short holiday break with boyfriend Cody Simpson to say goodbye to her Olympic career, was one of six athletes chosen for the Official Olympic flag ceremony.
The flame was handed over to Los Angeles for the next Games who have a hard act to follow and then it’s on to Brisbane where a challenge like no other awaits as Australia attempts to clear a bar which Nina Kennedy would do well to get over.
‘Never had’: Bruce loses it over Gout Gout
Legendary broadcaster Bruce McAvaney has seen it all in Australian sports but our latest rising athletics star is a different beast.
‘World at his feet’: Australia’s never seen anything like Gout Gout
Bruce McAvaney has seen so much in Australian track and field throughout his broadcasting career, but nothing compares to what teen sprinting sensation Gout Gout is doing at his age.