Peter FitzSimons has caused a stir after comparing Australian breakdancer Raygun to a national hero while defending her performance at the Paris Olympics.
While some viewers questioned why Dr Rachael Gunn was put on the international sporting stage after watching her “interpretive” dancing last week, FitzSimons saw her unique style as a positive lesson for Australians at home.
He said the 36-year-old from Sydney – who has a PhD in cultural studies and is “interested in the cultural politics of breakdancing” – is “the talk of much of the world”.
FitzSimons highlighted Gunn’s pre-existing talent in the newly created Olympic sport, highlighting her victory in the Oceania qualifiers and representing Australia at two world championships.
However, possibly FitzSimons’ most controversial reason for loving Gunn was that she “was excellent at bringing us together as a nation.”
“How long has it been since we all talked, most often fondly, about a fellow Australian, an underdog, who plays sport in a different way?” he wrote in the The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I say it goes back to Cliffy Young, and yet in that one short Olympic performance, this 36-year-old woman and her dogs in tracksuits have meteorically outstripped the great man, who once walked all the way from Sydney to Melbourne after training, chasing his sheep and cows in rubber boots.’
Young was a Victorian farmer who shocked spectators by winning the 875km Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon at the age of 61 in 1983.
Peter FitzSimons has shared his unique insight into Australian breakdancer Dr Rachael Gunn’s infamous Olympic performance
FitzSimons (pictured with partner Lisa Wilkinson) praised Gunn’s performance as an inspiration.
His incredible performance earned him the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1984.
Many social media users who followed FitzSimons’ article were quick to dismiss the journalist’s attempt to redeem Gunn, instead calling his performance “terrible” and questioning how he could compare it to Young.
“A ridiculous performance in a meaningless ‘sport’. Goodbye break dancing, we won’t miss you at all,” wrote one.
“It was horrible and the judges gave it the corresponding score. Since when do we celebrate failure?” wrote another.
“He is discrediting all exemplary athletes. It is his choice that is to blame. It is too ridiculous to put into words,” said another.
“I was wondering when we would get to that point, the point where talent developed through discipline and hard work is replaced by a wave of moralistic mediocrity. Everyone gets a reward for being themselves. Here we go,” wrote another.
A fifth wrote: ‘Cliffy Young, and yet in that one short Olympic performance this 36-year-old and her tracksuit bottoms have meteorically surpassed the great man.
‘Cliff Young won his race, beating all the ultramarathoners. RayGun lost all three of his matches, 0-18.
‘Raygun didn’t get over Cliff Young’
While FitzSimons acknowledged there was “some nastiness” in response to Gunn’s performance, he insisted his participation showed that “the Olympics still have a place for those who are not necessarily elite athletes.”
“She was great at giving the world what it needs most right now: joy. Her routine spawned literally thousands of memes and gifs, most of them funny and, at their core, kind,” he wrote.
“She was excellent at embodying the most cherished Australian motto of all: try, fool! And by God, she tried, in a way we’ve never seen before.”
Possibly FitzSimons’s most controversial reason for loving Gunn was that she “was excellent at bringing us together as a nation.”
Commentators were quick to dismiss FitzSimons’ take on Gunn’s performance, instead calling it “terrible.”
‘We thought we would never love an Olympian again like we loved Eddie the Eagle and Eric the Eel.
“We thought that in this ultra-serious, super-professional and often overly bland era, the days of the funny contestant we could love in this way were over. We were wrong.”
FitzSimons asked Australians to feel proud to be represented by someone who created a “joyous” routine and “laughs good-heartedly at critics”.
“You and your routine were the best of us, the joyful thing we all have inside but rarely show in public, and even then, only very late at night, at wedding receptions,” he said.
‘From hopping like a kangaroo to using the water spray, you were all of us, all at once, and you had every right to wear that Australian uniform with pride.’