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To the beat Athletes break the mould with new sport
The Guardian
|August 10, 2024
Breaking news. The Olympics' newest summer sport had its gala opening at the pop-up stadium in Place de la Concorde yesterday, where the grand marble statues of the great ladies of France looked down as the DJ dropped the opening notes of Tom Ze's 1972 hit Dor e Dor, and two competitors, India, 18, from the Netherlands, and Talash, 21, from Afghanistan, took to the stage for the very first battle of the breaking competition.
And if you hadn't already guessed that the International Olympic Committee aren't in Kansas anymore, much less Lausanne, there was a clue right there in the opening moments.
Talash, who was born in Kabul but now lives in Madrid, and who was competing for the IOC's refugee team, ripped off her top midway through the opening battle to reveal a brilliant blue cape with "Free Afghan Women" written in bright white letters across the back. The IOC have banned all athletes from making political statements, and watching Talash spin and pirouette in her cape, it was just about possible to imagine the IOC president, Thomas Bach, doing a spit-take as he looked up from his cup of coffee in the VIP suite. Talash didn't make it to the round robin stage, but she had already said and done plenty for her sport in that one viral moment.
This story is from the August 10, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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