As we all know, the Olympics are one of the most important sports competition in the world. But how does must it feel to dream of being an athlete and not identifying with any of the ones they show on TV? Today we are going into a journey to try and understand how much harder it is for Brazilian black women to see themselves in the athletes up on the podium.
Being a sports event event that happens every four years, the Games are the most important of its kind in the world and include more than 30 different modalities, such as gymnastics, boxing, athletics, swimming and more. Even though the Olympics had their first appearance all the way back in Greece 776 b.C, women were only able to compete in Paris 1900 with only 2.2% of all athletes, totaling 22 women out of 997 competitors.
Thirty six years and nine Olympics later, the first black women were able to compete. This happened in Berlin 1936, where Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes represented the U.S. in track & field. Since then, black women have been fighting for their place in sports and especially at the Games.
BLACK WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVE
To talk more in dept about representativity at the event, I interviewed three black women: Isabela Oliveira, Giovanna Rodrigues and Beatriz Felizardo. As said before, “The Olympics have the potential to highlight athletes from different origins and cultures”, highlighted Isabela, who thinks that the event is more than just games: “I see in the event the goal to promote countries’ representativity.”
Beatriz agrees that the Olympics promote representativity but emphasized the last two editions as the most important ones for the subject: “In the past two editions, representativity had a big growth, having its peak at the Paris games, mainly with the black women in the top of the podium being highlighted and representing a huge part of Brazil.”
At Paris 2024, we got to see history being made. For the first time, Team Brazil had more women than men athletes at the games. All four Brazilians gold medalists were women and three out the four of them were black. In addition to that, we also had the first time all black women podium in the gymnastics’ solo, which gave us iconic and historical pictures.
“I believe that, for society, this accomplishment sent a clear message of: ‘We are here’. They can try to repress us into smaller parts but they will never be able to silence a woman who is determined to achieve her goals,” adds Giovanna. In Isabela’s opinion, “That not only breaks historical barriers, but also sends a strong message about women’s value and talent, especially black women.”
The visibility that this event gives to undervalued sports and athletes is also extremely important. “It is an opportunity to give voice and visibility to these athletes’ stories that, many times, are ignored,” said Giovanna.
An example of that is the story of Brazil’s top Olympic medalist, Rebeca Andrade. To be this amazing athlete, she had to go through many issues throughout her life, such as having to walk two hours everyday to practice and having two anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgeries still at a young age. “Seeing these narratives being told and mainly listened to is an important step towards the recognition and appreciation of sports in Brazil,” concludes Giovanna.
“The visibility that events like this offer can inspire and motivate young people from many contexts to follow their dreams, in addition to promoting inclusion and diversity in the media and society in general,” adds Isabela.
When asked about the personal importance of representativity in the Olympics, our interviewees talked about how inspiring it is to see people like them conquering such incredible things.”I felt that for me and for a whole new generation of black girls that are constantly underestimated and undervalued, it meant a kind of hope for us to continue believing in our dreams. To see these black women conquer their space is like hearing: ‘If I made it, you can too’ It’s a message of strength and inspiration for all of us that face these challenges daily,” said Giovanna.
“I believe that for the black society and for myself it has the same impact. I can see that it has been more possible for us to take places of prestige, those who were once only occupied by white men. To see people like us achieving these places is inspiring, beautiful and extremely touching”, adds Beatriz. Isabela also states that “Personally, that inspires me and reinforces the idea that I can achieve big things regardless of my gender, color or origin.”
All that being said, it is evident the importance of representativity in such a big event as the Olympics. In addition to inspiring little kids and proving that anyone can be whoever they want, it also leads society to a more respectful and diverse future.
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The article above was edited by Fernanda Miki Tsukase.
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