Idk she was just having fun out there
Agreed. Sometimes those pole vaulters/high jumpers/weightlifters just go out there, fail completely three times and go home. Nobody makes fun of them. At least Raygun actually danced for a bit.
I initially thought the Raygun thing was fun and somewhat wholesome, and thought kudos to her for going out there and doing her thing when she knew it was completely non-competitive for the event. But then reading about the shenanigans with the selection process that landed her in the Olympics left me with a very different opinion of her and the whole situation.
Edit: Although now that I google the selection process thing, the first articles are about the allegations being “debunked”. So I have no idea what to believe. If she got there fairly, then good for her.
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I agree with you, people are being way too harsh about what should be more of a feel good story for the Olympics. I don’t really need Very Serious Investigative Journalism into how an underqualified person arrived at the Olympics through dubious qualification shenanigans.
She didn’t get any crap for finishing an hour and half off the leader…
Raygun is a forced meme.
For me it becomes decidedly less “feel good” if she conspired to keep out of the Olympics participants who could actually compete for a medal. I have no idea if that’s what happened, though, so now the whole story just confuses me.
Well, she had to actually run a difficult, hilly marathon course in 90+ degree heat to finish under 4 hours. Not gyrate around on the ground for 30 seconds.
I’m just saying she was objectively bad at her sport (barring injury or something during the race, which they didn’t mention in that video) and she didn’t get turned into a meme. It was rather nice how she was treated by the people at the event.
I thought I watched a program about (an Australian?) ski jumper who was terrible, but the best they could come up with. Even though his results were laughable compared to the other competitors, he wound up being a mini hero for representing the country. Why is this any different?
Don’t disagree. IMO, if a fair and accepted process got Raygun there and she did her best, then I’m all for it and my initial reaction was that it was a very cool thing. If the process was rigged (particularly by her) so that she went over more deserving athletes, then I just don’t have the same positive feeling about it. And I’d say the same about the Bhutan marathoner.
There have also been comments that she possible “threw” the Olympic competition, and purposely tried to earn zero points. I don’t think that’s in the spirit of the Games, either, if true.
Eddy the Eagle, he was British. They made a movie about him with Wolverine as his coach.
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How was the process rigged? I read that she won some legit competition that earned her the qualification. I’ve read some stuff online that she and her husband controlled the competition but pretty sure all of that has been debunked.
Kinzang Lhamo was there for the marathon as part of the World Athletics Universality Programme. Her best time is 3:23.
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Yep, and I’ve noted that those accusations appear to have been debunked. I’m not really sure how she got there. I’ll admit I did not watch any of the Oceania Breaking Championships.
There’s no way she’s better than the girl she “defeats” here (although it’s not like Molly is a gold-medal contender, either). So I don’t know what is going on with the qualification process.
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I never made a human doing the former, but I have doing the latter. Just saying.
Yeah, for sure. I get that. I do have to chuckle though that we’ve got the whole internet coming down hard on Raygun for damaging the sanctity and integrity of the Olympics while the entire Olympics organizing committee is accepting bribes from autocrats.
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Raygun wouldn’t beat any decently athletic woman if you gave them just a year to practice.
Raygun looks like if you showed my aunt a few breaking clips and gave her 3 days to come up with a routine. Her manner of dressing, swagger, and rhythm would be similar to Raygun’s.
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Gender has to be a contributing factor.
I think it’s more that someone break dancing terribly looks horribly goofy (I mean, some of her moves were something you’d see in an improv comedy show), whereas someone ski jumping terribly is still ski jumping that most of us wouldn’t dare try. Same with a “slow” marathoner. They are still running a goddamn marathon, so they earn some respect.
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