MITCHELL JOHNSON: Why cocaine Kookaburra Tom Craig owes Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn a beer

It’s not always roses when you compete for your country as breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has found out.

While there has been some support for her, including from Australian chef de mission Anna Meares and members of our Olympic team, there has been plenty of ridicule too. From right around the world.

My first thought when I saw all this unfold was that surely we have better breakdancers we could have showcased over in Paris?

The bottom line is when you are an athlete, whether you like it or not, you are judged on your performance. Most athletes understand this and many revel in it.

Breakdancing was included in the Olympic program so I don’t see why she should be exempt from the criticism that an athlete in any other sport would receive.

I’m sure Raygun gave it her best, unfortunately for her and Australia it wasn’t good enough to receive a single point and questions around that are being asked. People are rightly questioning whether we had someone better, someone younger.

I really wonder what watching what unfolded in that event felt like for other Olympic athletes – those who went and those who didn’t.

Australian swimming great Cate Campbell has dedicated her life to her training and was heartbroken to fall short of qualifying for Paris during that sport’s demanding and transparent selection trials.

I wonder whether the Raygun fiasco being allowed to happen is a bit disrespectful to athletes from other sports where the selection process is apparently more rigorous.

Raygun was so off the pace that it has even been speculated she was in on some kind of set-up or stitch-up after some of her interesting moves including the kangaroo and the sprinkler dance.

I’m no expert on breakdancing but from watching clips on YouTube and the other dancers at this Olympics, we could all see the difference.

In the end, Raygun is being judged on her performance — not her personality or anything outside what she did in that competition. And let’s not forget, the Olympics is for the elite to compete in. It’s not there just to participate in or to “have a crack”.

I can remember what it felt like when I was judged on my performances out in the middle for Australia as a cricketer, but I knew that came with being an athlete in the public eye.

Sometimes the external judgment is nice and other times it’s nasty but ultimately, it is performance-based and what matters is how you deal with it personally.

What I learnt over time was not to take criticism to heart as a personal attack and to build resilience. Often, the opinion of a journalist or fan doesn’t matter at all.

I also learned that not everyone will like the way you play, or dance, or even like you as a person because of the way you look, what you may have said, or any other number of reasons. But who cares!

Be yourself. If you don’t like what you hear, then maybe look for a different career path. I wish I learned all this quicker in my career but I got there in the end.

Social media has made it harder to escape negative comments but just stay off it. This is the other thing about today’s social media world — the feeling that we must be constantly approved of, liked, or judged in only a positive sense.

I don’t blame Raygun for her efforts in being selected to represent Australia. She went through the system and was selected. If breakdancing ever makes it back into the Olympics, maybe the selection system needs to be looked at.

One last thought. Kookaburra Tom Craig owes Raygun a beer because at least she got him off the front pages over his Paris cocaine arrest.

Craig would have been better off in the AFL system. Instead of being condemned, he might have had privacy and protection, three strikes and care for his mental health and wellbeing.

After avoiding any penalty from the French legal system besides a night in a cell, it will be interesting to see whether Hockey Australia acts further.

I hear some people saying drugs are part of society and that these things happen but that doesn’t make it right. As an athlete, they shouldn’t happen. You are in a privileged position.

If you want to be an athlete, you have a responsibility to yourself, your team, your country and your sport. Again, plenty of others would love to have been in his shoes.