PARIS: Manizha Talash, the Afghan breakdancer from a refugee team who was disqualified at the Paris Olympics for displaying the words “Free Afghan Women” on her cape, said she planned her action for four months and would do it again if given a chance.
Talash, who resides in Spain, wore a light blue gown with the phrase written on it in large white letters in her pre-qualifier to India Sardjoe of Netherlands at Place de la Concorde. She said the ‘Hunger Games’ movie inspired her move.
Players are barred from using political slogans and statements on the field and on podiums at the Olympics. The governing body later said the 21-year-old Talash had been disqualified for violating the code of conduct.
“As long as I can remember, I grew up with the sound of the bombs around me every day, with my loved ones, some of whom I lost in the bombings,” Talash said.
She was talking to Western media in Paris after a local association for Afghan women raised funds to bring her back to France from Spain at the Paralympic Games, where fellow Afghan Zakia Khudadadi won a bronze medal in taekwondo
“I am like a bomb because I grew up with bombs around me,” she said.
Taliban’s ban on women and freedom of expression have drawn wide criticism from rights groups and many foreign governments since they resumed control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Talash stayed in Pakistan for a year and hoped to return to her home country before moving to Spain after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan three years ago. She said women in Afghanistan were “in a cage” and it was her duty to “resist”.
The breakdancer said she was not wearing a political message, ‘it was a message I wanted to send to the world’
