It’s no secret the Summer Olympics is blacker than the Winter Olympics. After all, it’s where a Black American first won an Olympic medal — hurdler George Coleman Poage in 1904. It’s where Jesse Owens, the GOAT of track and field, basically said, “How ya like me now?” and racked up four gold track and field medals in front of the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Where a Black woman first won a gold medal: high jumper Alice Coachman in London in 1940. Where sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave the Black Power salute to the world on the medals podium in Mexico in 1968, and where Florence Griffith-Joyner brought a “nails done, hair did, everything did” vibe to the track in 1988’s Seoul Olympics and blazed her way to gold medals and world records in the 100 and 200-meter races — records that still stand.
But this year? Paris 2024? The hair alone has us in a chokehold: cornrows, afro puffs, natural curls, waist-length braids, colorful weaves, slick baldies … it’s all on display, visual rejections of white supremacy/Western beauty/respectability politics-dominated notions of blackness. Add France’s all-Black judo team, Simone Biles being Simone Biles, the Black Girl Magic gymnastics sweep, a torch-carrying, equestrian-dressing Snoop, and Serena Williams floating down the Seine… listen, Paris 2024 has been Blackity-Black-Black Black. Here are a few highlights:
Aya Nakamura Redefined Frenchness:
During the opening ceremonies on July 26, a mere 19 days after France rejected overtly racist, anti-immigrant, fascist political leadership, Nakamura, the most popular singer in France, sashayed out of the 390-year-old Academie Francaise — which officially decides what the French language is — in a stunning gold Dior dress.
The New York Times explained why this was such a big deal, given that language is inherently about identity and culture: “Ms. Nakamura uses slang like verlan that reverses the order of syllables, and West African dialects like Nouchi. She mixes languages, including English, and R&B and Afropop.”
Or, as Toni Morrison might have put it, institutions don’t define our language because Black folks, “we do language.”
Axelle Saint-Cirel Singing “La Marseillaise”
Saint-Cirel, a Black opera singer, belted out the French national anthem like an angel — again in pouring rain — draped in a Dior dress that mimicked the French flag.
But viewers who aren’t familiar with French culture and history may have missed that Saint-Cirel’s posture and dress were a direct reference to a painting that has long represented France’s revolutionary spirit and pursuit of freedom: “Liberty Leading the People,” by Eugène Delacroix, which is on display in the Louvre.
From the roof of the Grand Palais, Saint-Cirel embodied that people of African descent are the personification of freedom and justice. Like Nakamura’s performance, this was a “forget what you see on ‘Emily In Paris’” moment. What it means to be French is no longer only white people wearing berets and toting baguettes.
Serena Williams and Carl Lewis on the Seine
During the opening ceremony, legendary athletes and Olympians Serena Williams and Carl Lewis (along with Nadia Comaneci and Rafael Nadal) carried the Olympic Torch down the Seine in a speedboat. It was pouring rain, the river was choppy, and at times, they looked a little worried they might fall into the water. In this video, though, Serena really is just like us, excitedly flexing for the ‘gram:
But don’t think it wasn’t epic. As Word In Black’s “Black Voices, Black Power” correspondent Keith Boykin, tweeted: “So here’s my pitch. Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, Nadia Comǎneci, and Rafa Nadal take a boat up the Seine, hand off the torch through the Louvre. We light a hot air balloon over Paris. And then Celine Dion makes a triumphant return to sing at the Eiffel Tower! What do you think?”
The Passing of the Torch, Literally
Williams, Lewis, and company handed the torch to various French athletes who jogged it through the Louvre and out to the Jardin des Tuileries, a famous French park. But in a moment that again showcased the Blackness of the games, 100-year-old Charles Coste — a white man, and the oldest living French Olympic champion — lit the torch of two Black French gold medalists: judoka Teddy Riner and retired sprinter Marie-José Pérec. It was a literal passing of the torch, a symbol that a world dominated by a white, Western viewpoint is fading to one where Blackness soars, just as the Olympic cauldron/hot air balloon soared into the sky.
Have You Seen the Black French Judo Team?
Before the games began, Teddy Riner had won 11 judo world championships and three Olympic gold medals so he’s a boss. A star. And now he has four gold medals. Riner led his team to victory over Japan — you know, the country that invented judo. All six athletes who competed against Japan in that final match and won gold are Black.
Beyoncé Introducing Team USA
10 out of 10. No notes. It’s Queen Bey bringing all her “Cowboy Carter” glam to Team USA.
Sha’Carri Richardson All Day, Every Day
Keep it real, Sha’Carri Richardson is Black America’s play cousin, and we love her no matter what. We have been waiting for years for her to become an Olympian — she finally won her first Olympic medal in Paris, silver in the 100m — and we breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when she kept the U.S. from crashing out in the Olympic 4×100 relay.
Also tho? Our modern-day Flo-Jo is on Vogue’s August digital cover:
The clip of her getting ready for the day with Vogue and telling the makeup artist that she doesn’t want her makeup to “look lighter than I am. I am a melanin girl. I want to make sure it matches my skin tone,” is everything. “I don’t want to look ashy. I want to look like a brown-skinned girl on camera.” Amen, Sha’Carri. Amen.
The Joy of Snoop Dogg
Snoop reportedly secured a $500K-per-day gig as an Olympic correspondent for NBC. But we bet no one who hated on “Doggystyle” or tut-tutted that Snoop’s Crip-walking was the end of Western civilization would have ever predicted that Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., Long Beach’s very own, would carry the Olympic torch, of all things, in Paris at age 52. Snoop has shown us his equestrian fashion, vlogged the skateboarding competition, and hung out with Flavor Flav — himself another unlikely O.G. rapper-turned-Olympic aficionado. It’s a safe bet that Snoop has had more fun at the Olympics than any other celeb. And given that too many Black men who came up with him — Biggie, Nate Dogg, and Tupac, to name three — are no longer alive, we are here for the joy Mr. Broadus brings. Especially when he’s “Snooping Around Paris” with Simone Biles.
Fairy Godfather Flavor Flav
He’s been the oversized clock-wearing, gold-fronting court jester for Public Enemy, then he was a reality TV star. Now Flav, 62, is the hype man — and fairy godfather — for the U.S. women Olympians in overlooked, underfunded sports. He will sponsor the U.S. Women’s water polo team for the next five years, and he came to the rescue of American discus thrower Veronica Fraley, a Black woman, after she posted on Twitter that she couldn’t pay her rent. Flav and Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian — a.k.a. Mr. Serena Williams — took the lead in helping Fraley.
LeBron James and the Blackness of Team USA
LeBron James served as the official Team USA Olympic Games Paris 2024 opening ceremony flag Bearer. Memes took over social media, pointing out that — holding Old Glory on a boat with 600 American athletes floating down the Seine — the 39-year-old Los Angeles Laker and future NBA Hall of Fame looked like a Black George Washington, crossing the Delaware. But as he took his place on Mount Olympus, representing his nation on the global stage, James was aware of the moment: “Mama, we made it,” he whispers. If that made you tear up — and if you’re human, it did — then grab some tissue. This entire video of James and other Black athletes, soaking in once-in-a-lifetime experiences on the opening day of the Olympics, is our ancestors’ wildest dreams.
France vs. USA in the Basketball Final
As of this writing, we don’t know who is going to win, but ahem, melanin is everywhere. Check out Team USA:
And here is Team France:
En Garde! Black Fencers
Black fencers Miles Chamley-Watson and Lauren Scruggs represented Team USA. Scruggs, a 21-year-old from Queens, broke new ground by becoming the first Black American woman to secure an individual medal — silver — in the traditionally white-dominated sport. Scruggs told ABC News that growing up, no one in fencing “really looked like me.” Now she’ll forever be an example for Black folks everywhere.
And representing France, Enzo Lefort won bronze in the men’s foil fencing.
Simone Biles Is Excellence
After showing the world that prioritizing your mental health is critical, Biles came back to the 2024 games and redefined what’s possible in sports. In Paris Biles became the most decorated gymnast in history with 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals to her name. Biles will forever stand as a symbol of excellence and resilience who not only shattered records but broke barriers — challenging the norms of who gets to be celebrated as the greatest of all time. What she accomplished is more than all of our wildest dreams.
Black Girl Magic, Black Sisterhood
Gymnastics champs Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, and Rebeca Andrade showed up and showed out in Paris. The trio absolutely Hulk-smashed the Women’s Floor Exercise Final. Andrade made history as the first Brazilian gymnast to win Olympic gold, and the trio became the first all-Black trio on the winner’s podium in Olympic gymnastics history.
At the medal ceremony, three women took to the podium and showed the world what excellence, sportsmanship (sports-woman-ship!), and the sisterhood of melanin look like. Biles and Chiles bowing down to Andrade was an emotional reminder of that sisterhood, and that Blackness is not only an American experience. And, no matter what, we can move forward by ourselves, or we can win together.
