to think Rachel 'Raygun' gun has broken the phrase 'Oh for the confidence of a mediocre man'?

He's better than her at it, but still moves like a middle-aged man just "giving it a go" at a drunken party. She has no rhythm, poor coordination, and no instincts for dance (of any kind). I think they are just trendy delusionals.

Page 5 | Olympic breakdancer | Mumsnet
Her husband will have helped choreograph it - see his own moves from the link at end of this thread.

What bemuses me is in her recent IG post she said defiantly she "worked her butt off" - in which case someone, at least her husband/coach, must have seen that "routine" more than once and noticed it was really shit.

The point is, no one was forcing her with a gun to her head to go. In her interviews she sounds deluded. Saying she knew she had no skill but wanted to do something different is just pretty insulting. Imagine a runner crawling to the finishing line or a or a Simone Biles climbing onto the pommel horse and rolling off it, or divers landing on their backs in an effort to be "creative".
It's cool to have a hobby, and she's much better Im sure than an average Joe, but there are lots of hobbyists who don't try to force their way to the Olympics. She actively sought to be selected knowing she was nowhere near the other contestants, surely you can't say it's on the "system". She does not deserve the hatred and the abuse, but they absolutely need to look into that selection process.
It's just unlucky for her she lives in times where everything is a meme, I bet the guy with a bil bulge is happy someone was even more ridiculous to take off the heat of him.

According to the articles I read, she was responsible and so was her husband (who was also her coach, would they not think to hire someone who knew the stuff?). At any rate, if you know you suck, why put yourself forward. Like that Somalian runner who covered 100m in over 20 seconds at some championships a few years ago and bunny hopped at the end, but was the niece of the Somali president or prime minister.

Kath and Kim episode 'Roots' is definitely worth a watch. Some of the moves are identical to Kath's

I didnt, I was just referring to the paragraph you mentioned she genuinely loves breakdancing. Love is not enough and on her behalf it was a crappy argument that she knew she was shit but wanted to represent Australia; if half of what people say about her qualifying is true, then she was fully aware she would flop to the max and so did everyone, but she would also have known there were better candidates and yet she was the one with a chance to go.

Concluding as pressed post too soon, she may love breakdance but is totally delulu and should have enough self wareness to not turn up. I feel for the community who is now being harassed as a result of her stupidity.

And last but not least, let's remember the worthy people who could do it and who WON- the amazing for Japan! Because sadly everyone is talking about some talentless wannabe pretending to be a breathless fish, but hardly anyone knows who actually won the medal!

Compare the difference! And then try to figure out why someone like Raygun made it there.

I can't play tennis but love it, does not mean I should go to the Olympics to do something creative with it and let's say serve into an audience just because I know it will be fun and different. And having it paid by my country so that I can have a blast.

I was watching the darts yesterday and one of the Aussie players had adapted his walk on to incorporate the kangaroo, it was funny and topical. And given it was the New Zealand Masters, the audience pissed themselves laughing.

Quite. If we did, we'd be questioning his sanity. Sad that we are supposed to accept that a woman who does this is just 'giving it a go'.

At least the first round 100m sprinters from small countries who didn't even have an athletics track had an excuse!

Err maybe, to be fair I've never seen a man stand in an Olympic event that he is so hopelessly unqualified and lacking the required talent to compete in and then complain that everyone's laughing at him??

i reckon a large chunk of the uk Olympians don’t have another job and will be training full time and receiving funding from some sporting body (lottery funding?). I saw an interview with some swimmers who said they trained for 10 hours a day! Such dedication (admirable, but not something I would do ever encourage my child to do).

The vast majority of Olympians ARE amateur athletes. There is a very select few sports where you can make a proper living beyond the big money league ones (golf, tennis) and the TV friendly sports (swimming, athletics, gymnastics).

Money is very much the last thing on their minds as they cross that finish line.

The Olympics are amateur

No, I think the emotions about sport have got to a ridiculous level. Bring back the amateur olympics. I think quite a bit of the emotion might be linked to how much money they might make.

I've finally watched this. I can only assume it was epic level trolling. The concept that it was done genuinely is a hard one to get your head round.

Really? You can’t imagine how you could be overwhelmed by emotion after spending the greater part of your childhood and early adult years in search of a single sporting goal, and you finally achieve it (or miss it)?

Truthfully I hope she goes the way of Lay Down Sally. Keeps her head down and fades into obscurity via family life and a bit of yoga (breakdance) teaching.