Breaking: it’s breaking. The Olympics’ latest summer sport had its gala opening at the pop-up stadium in Place de la Concorde on Friday, where the grand marble statues of the great ladies of France looked down as the DJ dropped the opening notes of Tom Zé’s 1972 hit Dor e Dor, and two young B-Girls, India, 18, from the Netherlands, and Talash, 21, from Afghanistan, took to the stage for the very first battle of the breaking competition. If you hadn’t already guessed that the International Olympic Committee isn’t in Kansas any more, let alone Lausanne, there was a clue coming right up 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 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 through to the round-robin stage, but she had already said and done plenty for her sport in that one viral moment.
