On the ice, a question: Where are the Black figure skaters?
“She carries not just the hopes of Canadian and French skaters, but also Black girls and women, boys and men across the world who strain to see themselves represented on the ice and slopes during the Winter Games.
Part of the reason, says Elladj Baldé, a Black and Russian professional figure skater from Canada, is that ‘Black skaters weren’t allowed to be in figure skating clubs (or) in figure skating competitions’ during the sport’s early years.
Whether it was Europe’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed and petite figure skating standard or a period of racial segregation at rinks in the U.S., Black skaters who broke barriers in the sport did so with metaphorical weights chained to their skates.”