Very few top shelf and above-the-top-shelf sports people get to retire at the top of their game, time simply runs out for even the very best, but few call time before it’s too late and you remember more of the latter than the glory years. But some are smarter than others and most, some go out at the very top and are always remembered as a legend of their sport. This week is a case in point as Raygun Break Dancing Legend & Visionary announced her retirement from Break Dancing.
So most of the people on earth before July 2024 wouldn’t have had any idea that there was International Break Dancing. How could you. It wasn’t on TV, in the newspapers, and Donald Trump never used Break Dancing in any of his campaign speeches. Perhaps he should. Or more to the point, maybe Kamala Harris should have. A quick, tight two minute set of break dancing during her campaign may have attracted more male votes. And all votes really. Dancing like a drunk at the local RSL to YMCA by the Village People certainly did one side of the US Election no harm.
That’s the genius of Raygun, she knew that Break Dancing wasn’t on the map of everyday people, or anyday people, and decided to do something about.
After her masterclass at the 2024 Paris Olympics, you could say she put Break Dancing on the map well and truly. And despite not winning gold, she had won the attention of the world. And with the wide ranging achievements nailed, why go on any further?
Like Netflix for Formula 1, big Darrell Eastlake for Weight Lifting and/or Nutri Grain for the world of Iron Man, there has barely been a bigger influencer into an entire sport than Australia’s Raygun. Few will in any sport in the years to come.
She speaks to kids, crosses generations and continents, and even got Break Dancing on the late night chat show circuit in the US. What more can one person do for a sport. Genius indeed.
So here we are a few months down the track from Paris 2024, and people are still talking Break Dancing and Raygun. Go down to your local Woolies and ask everyday Australians and get them to name the winner of the 100 metre men’s sprint race. Or the 200 metres. Or any swimmer who isn’t Ariane Titmus. (p.s. did you know her Dad works for Channel Seven?). But mention Raygun and people are all ears, and know it all, and it’s green tracksuits and kangaroo paws ahoy (not the plant).
Even the week long swimming saturation ends up a blur, with very few remembering any of the winners, races, or happenings. Maybe it was the slow pool that did it, or maybe Raygun’s Break Dancing Clinic simply blew it all out of the water. Pardon the pun. An explosion of joyous movement that blanked the memory of everything other than Break Dancing. Maybe Raygun had one of those Men In Black Memory Blanking devices. It wouldn’t surprise, as I can’t remember her having one.
But not only is Raygun retiring as the most talked about athlete of the Paris 2024, and she will be able to Steven Bradbury her way through life, although worth pointing out that Bradbury actually won stuff, but she was named the number one female break dancer in the world before she retired.
World famous, saviour of break dancing, and number one in the world. Why hang around.
You may question how someone whose Olympic routine was so widely panned could make it to number one in the world. Or number one of any country or region to make it to the Olympics. It may be a system even more complicated than other sporting party poopers like VAR in football, Duckworth-Lewis in cricket, the NRL Bunker or most of the rules in NFL, but it doesn’t matter. The history books are written, and records are done and dusted.
Raygun made it to the Olympics, and made it to number one in the world, and became world famous. Along with her sport.
What more does a sports person have to achieve.
Nothing more. And nothing less.
Raygun goes out on top, as a pioneer, a legend, a visionary, who will be remembered as the real star of Paris 2024.
And the Wooden Spooners team salutes her.
