Sport facing Olympic extinction at least had one memorable moment
Breaking may be one and done at the Olympics, and as Aussie Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn cops the heat, her viral performance got the world talking and put the sport at the front of everyone’s mind.
BREAKING is headed the same way at the Olympics as the tug-of-war, hot-air ballooning and chariot racing. It’s done - but don’t blame Raygun.
Believe it or not the sport is in Rachael Gunn’s debt in an Eric the Eel, Eddie The Eagle, Jamaican bobsled team sort of way.
Her mega-basic routine in the women’s competition on Friday drew more scorn on social media than Donald Trump after a bad hair day.
The general feeling it was a bit like trying to win a cooking competition with a common pikelet with no syrup but behind justifiable criticism there was shallow outrage.
One critic said she’d set the sport back 40 years. Seriously? And I suppose Eric the Eel killed off swimming? Somehow it managed to find the strength to fight on as breaking will too.
The whole raging inferno did something extremely rare.
It got people talking about breaking which seems done as an Olympic sport given it is off the list for Los Angeles in four years time.
The moves. The grooves. The kooky outfits (Australia’s Jeff Dunne was beaten on Saturday by someone dressed like a hospital worker) and the general worth of the sport, if indeed that is what it is.
Raygun made headlines in the London Daily Telegraph, the BBC and ESPN and the New York Times.
Maybe it was for a modest display but the worst thing a minor sport at the Olympics can be is being ignored.
Can you remember a single thing about the Olympic shooting or equestrian events? Those sports are under the pump because they don’t create debate.
New sports need to make people feel something. Raygun did that.
Olympic powerbroker John Coates, speaking to this masthead just before the Games, said many sports underestimated the need to be noticed in a world where interest can be so easily measured.
“The television ratings for some of these new sports were huge at the last Games,’’ Coates said.
“There’s a big emphasis on digital and all the social media numbers are monitored from people who know a lot more about it than me.
“It is critical to ensure kids stay involved in sport and the Olympics have a huge role to play in that. Social media is where kids get their news I’m afraid. A lot of the older sports need to realise how important it is.’’
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