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★★★★★ Raygun saga
As the discursive dust settles, The Paris End has been left wondering… what was Raygun? It would be easy—too easy—to give 36-year-old Macquarie University cultural studies lecturer and Olympic breaker Rachael Gunn aka “Raygun” one star. Indeed, this would be a higher score than the straight zeros she received across three rounds from nine judges in the inaugural Olympic breaking contest held in Paris last Friday evening. However, approached holistically, the story is an obvious five stars. There are so many tragicomic elements it's hard to know where to begin. Perhaps with the “how do you do, fellow kids” nature of Olympified breaking culture, which is kind of like the sporting equivalent of a “hip hop/urban graffiti style” free-download font. Competitors at the sterile La Concorde Urban Park were called “b-girls” and “b-boys.” They all had monikers like “Logistx” and “Phil Wizard.” Snoop Dogg was there. If anyone could make sense of the scene, surely it was Dr Raygun. Unfortunately, her presence only made things weirder.
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