An Olympic refugee team breakdancer used the first breaking battle in Olympic history to deliver a message to her home country.
Manizha Talash, who was born in Afghanistan before fleeing the country in 2021 after the Taliban returned to power, removed her T-shirt in the middle of her third round Friday to reveal a bright blue cape with the words, “FREE AFGHAN WOMEN.”
Talash extended her arms while holding both ends of the cape to show the message. Her opponent, Dutch breaker India Sardjoe, raised her hands and applauded. Sardjoe won the pre-qualifier battleout 3-0, ending Talash’s Olympic journey.
Talash, 21, grew up in Kabul and discovered breakdancing through social media. Considered Afghanistan’s first B-girl, she began training with a group in Kabul named the Superiors Crew — as the only B-girl.
“There were 55 boys, and I was only a girl,” she told Al-Jazeera.
Talash fled Afghanistan with her younger brother, who was 12 at the time, but without her mother, Time reported. After a year in Pakistan, she was granted refugee status in Spain alongside six other members of her crew who were spread around the country.
Her mother, two other brothers and a sister were granted refugee status and joined her in Madrid this May, according to Time.
Under the Taliban regime, Afghanistan has become very restrictive toward women. A United Nations report in June 2023 said “girls and women are denied education beyond primary level, banned from working outside the home in most sectors, prohibited from accessing public baths, parks, and gyms, and moving freely around the country.”
Talash told the BBC she was competing “for my friends and for their dreams and hopes.”
Talash was working at a hair salon in Huesca, Spain before a friend of a friend helped her connect with the refugee team, Teen Vogue reported.
The Olympic refugee team was created in 2015 and debuted at the 2016 Rio Games. This year’s team includes 36 athletes from 11 countries, including five originally from Afghanistan.
Breaking, an urban dance style born from 1970s block parties in the Bronx, N.Y., is debuting as an Olympic sport in Paris. A field of 17 B-girls will be whittled to two for the gold medal battle Friday evening.
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(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
