Paris brought down the curtain on an incredible Olympic Games with a stunning closing ceremony at the Stade de France on Sunday.
But fans felt the French final was missing an Australian twist, such as the name of viral breakdancing star Rachael Gunn.
Gunn, known as Raygun, failed to score any points when breaking made its Olympic debut in Paris on Friday.
Since then, Gunn has come under fire not only for his acting but also for his appearance, both online and in some traditional media.
He hopped like a kangaroo, sometimes looked like a T-Rex, and rolled around on the ground in a disjointed manner that both confused and amused Australians returning home to see the sport for the first time.
But fans on social media apparently wanted to see more of the Australian sensation on Sunday, and her exuberant dancing spirit was missing from the cordial ceremony.
“They should have Raygun break right in the middle of the closing ceremony,” one fan said.
Another said: “We need Raygun to perform at the closing ceremony.”
All fans agreed that one person should have performed at the closing ceremony of the Olympics.
Raygun went viral over the weekend for her memorable women’s breaking performance.
A third fan joked: “Where’s Raygun… the best athlete? I hope they ask her to do more breakdancing for her fans.”
Another simply asked: ‘Where is Raygun?’
Raygun was not among the Australian contingent at the closing ceremony, while gold medallists Kaylee McKeown and Matt Wearn were honoured with the role of flag bearers for the Australians.
Australia’s chef de mission Anna Meares launched a strong defence of Gunn, saying she should be applauded for her courage, rather than ridiculed for her performance at the Paris Games.
“In 2008, she was locked in a room crying, participating in a male-dominated sport as the only woman,” Meares said.
‘And it took a lot of courage for her to keep going and fight for her chance to participate in a sport she loved.
‘That led her to win the Olympic qualifying event to be here in Paris.
“She’s the best breakdancer we have in Australia.”
Meares compared the criticism to the historical misogynistic abuse directed at female athletes as they struggled for recognition in the sporting world.
“Now you look at the history of what we’ve had as female athletes, what we’ve faced in terms of criticism, belittlement, judgment and simple comments like ‘you shouldn’t be there,'” she said.
‘One hundred years ago, ahead of Paris 1924, Australia sent a team of 37 athletes (none of them women).
‘One hundred years later, we have 256 women representing here.’
His break partner, Justice Crew’s Samson Smith, expressed his sympathy for Raygun.
“I’ve seen her fight, I’ve seen her win and I’ve seen her lose. Watching her at the Olympics… that’s just her,” she said on The Project. “That’s her style, she wins and she loses. She lost every point, which is totally fine with us. We go into a battle, we win, we lose, that’s it.”
Reflecting on the reaction, Smith said: “To see it go viral, and it’s still going viral, the way everyone keeps talking about it… and it’s such a disappointment because they’re not talking about the winners.
‘They’re not talking about the gold medalists, the silver medalists, the bronze medalists… they’re all talking about Raygun memes and they haven’t even seen his full set.
‘They just look at his memes and judge those slow movements, the sprinkler, that it’s just his character.
“It’s just his personality, that’s his character, and the general public laughs at that. The memes that everyone comes up with are crazy.
‘At the end of the day, she’s a human being who goes out to show her creativity.’
