An Olympic breakdancing team made up of refugees used the first breakdancer in Olympic history to send a message to their home country.

Manizha Talash, who was born in Afghanistan before fleeing the country in 2021 after the Taliban returned to power, took off her T-shirt in the middle of her third round on Friday, revealing a bright blue cloak emblazoned with the words “FREE AFGHAN WOMEN.”

Talash stretched her arms out and held both ends of the cape to show the message. Her opponent, Dutch breaker India Sardjoe, raised her hands and applauded. Sardjoe won the pre-qualifying 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 as the only B-girl with a group in Kabul called Superiors Crew.

“There were 55 boys and I was just a girl,” She told Al-Jazeera.

Talash fled Afghanistan with her then twelve-year-old younger brother, but without her mother. Reported timeAfter a year in Pakistan, she was granted refugee status in Spain along with six other members of her crew scattered across the country.

Her mother, two other brothers and a sister were granted refugee status and followed her to Madrid in May this year, Time reported.

Under the Taliban regime, Afghanistan has become very restrictive towards women. United Nations report In June 2023, it said: “Girls and women are denied education beyond primary school, are prohibited from working outside the home in most industries, have no access to public swimming pools, parks and gyms, and cannot move freely around the country.”

Talash told the BBC She ran “for my friends and their dreams and hopes.”

Talash worked in a hair salon in Huesca, Spain, before a friend of a friend helped her contact the refugee team, Teen Vogue reported.

The Refugee Olympic Team was founded in 2015 and debuted at the 2016 Rio Games. This year’s team consists of 36 athletes from 11 countries, including five originally from Afghanistan.

Breaking, an urban dance style born at block parties in the 1970s in the Bronx, NYcelebrates its debut as an Olympic discipline in Paris. Of the 17 B girls, only two will remain on Friday evening to fight for the gold medal.

Required reading

(Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)