Luciana Alvarado, a gymnast representing Costa Rica in the Olympics, decided to pay homage to the BLM movement in her floor routine.
Alvarado, 18, is the first Costa Rican to qualify for the Olympics. She ended her routine by kneeling, raising one fist, and playing the other hand behind her back with her head elevated to the ceiling.
In an interview with GymCastic, a podcast about gymnastics, the young gymnast expressed the importance of sending the message of respect and justice and decided the pose was the way to incorporate it into her sport.
“I feel like if you do something that brings everyone together, and you see that here, like ‘Yes, you’re one of mine, you understand … the importance of treating everyone with respect and dignity and everyone having the same rights…so I think that’s why I love to have that [pose] in my routine,'” Alvarado said.
According to Good Morning America, the gymnast’s BLM demonstration was the first of its kind to happen at an international and elite gymnastics competition.
Although the Olympic Committee forbade political gestures at this year’s games, the gymnast was unlikely to incur any repercussions for the gesture due to its artistic nature.
Unfortunately, Alvarado’s performance did not score high enough to move on to the finals, but we salute her boldness.
Costa Rica has been progressive on the issue of racial justice. In 2016, Costa Rica became the first state in the OAS (Organization of American States) region to pass the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance, first conceptualized in Guatemala in 2013.
Costa Rica is 84 percent white/mestizo, with mulattos, Native/Indigenous, and Black Costa Ricans making up the remaining 16 percent. It has had its challenges with creating a society that is just for all of its citizens. However, unlike the United States, its leadership took the time to address the issues substantively.
In 2018, Costa Rica elected its first Black vice president– Epsy Bar Campbell. She was also the first Black female vice president in the Western Hemisphere.
