Afghan refugee and Breaking athlete Manizha Talash stretches her hand during a warm up prior to practice for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where the sport will make its Olympic debut, in Madrid, Spain, on June 11, 2024. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - Manizha Talash, the Afghan breakdancer from the refugee team who was disqualified at the Paris Olympics for displaying the words "Free Afghan Women" on her cape in her routine last month, said she planned her action for four months and would do it again.
Talash, who lives in Spain, wore a light blue cape with the phrase written on it in large white letters in her pre-qualifier loss to India Sardjoe of Netherlands at Place de la Concorde, which she said was inspired by the 'Hunger Games' movie.
Political slogans and statement are banned on the field of play and on podiums at the Olympics and breaking's governing body later said the 21-year-old had been disqualified.
"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, who was in Paris after a local association for Afghan women raised funds to fly her from Spain, told Reuters at the Paralympic Games, where fellow Afghan Zakia Khudadadi clinched a bronze medal in taekwondo - a first for a para athlete from a refugee team at an Olympics.
"I am like a bomb because I grew with bombs around me.
"I used the first competition, the first dance performance I was able to do, to act directly and highlight the action I wanted to take. If I had to do it again I would do the same."
The Taliban's restrictions on women and freedom of expression have drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and many foreign governments since the former insurgents resumed control of Afghanistan in 2021.
WOMEN'S CAUSE
Talash, who stayed for a year in Pakistan hoping to return to her home country before moving to Spain after the Taliban took Kabul three years ago, said Afghan women were "in a cage" and it was her duty to "resist".
"For four months I thought about what I could do so that the cause of Afghan women would he heard," she said.
"But I want to be clear that this was not a political message, it was a message I wanted to send to the world.
"I'm not just a sports person, I'm a hip hop person who wants to be able to think and dress differently.
"My message was not about (wearing) the hijab (or not), it was about freedom of movement and education (for women in Afghanistan)," Talash added in a press conference as tears rolled down her cheeks.
After drying her eyes, two pearly jewels looking like tears remained under them.
"It's a message and in the same way it's the idea that a woman's tears are important and that we have to be very careful not to have women shed tears," she said.
Western capitals, led by Washington, have said the path to formal recognition of the Taliban is largely stalled until they reverse course on women's rights and open high schools to girls.
"I'm also fighting for this generation, but also the future generations who will end up being illiterate," Talash said.
"The burqa (cape) I wore at the Olympics was a symbol - like wings for Afghan women to take flight and break free."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
