Six Olympic hopefuls fighting for change

Ruth wears top and skirt MIU MIU

Ruth Mwandumba has only been a shooter for three years, but that hasn’t stopped her going for gold. ​“I still feel like I have a lot of catching up to do, but I’m trying to prove that I can get to the top,” she says. The 25-year-old from Merseyside first found a taste for the precision sport as an Army cadet at 13 years old.

Now, she’s gunning for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Working with organising body British Shooting, Mwandumba is also tackling inclusivity within the sport, beginning with visiting schools and outreach programs, speaking to young people of colour. ​“I’ve had to deal with a lot of negative comments about the fact that I’m a Black shooter. I struggled to come to terms with the fact that no one else looks like me. Since then, I’ve made it my goal to increase shooting’s diversity.”

Alice wears top DAVIDE BAZZERLA, skirt KHANH BRICE NGUYEN, shorts LEVI'S and hat EMMA BREWIN

Alice Dearing simply fell into swimming. ​“When I was eight years old, my brother and I joined a swimming club and loved it,” says the Birmingham-born athlete. ​“We kept doing it until I realised I could move to the elite stage.” Sixteen years later, the 24-year-old is a world junior champion and the strongest open-water swimmer in the UK, advocating for Black safety in water.

According to The Guardian, 95 per cent of Black adults and 80 per cent of Black children in England do not swim. Having co-founded the Black Swimming Association in 2019, Dearing is now working to ensure that swimming is compulsory in schools to break the stigma. ​“There’s this negative preconception that we really hope to stamp out. We’re well aware that it won’t be done overnight, but we want people to know that they can be safe by water without having to fear it.”

Kimberley wears top and skirt VERSACE and gloves LAUREN PERRIN

When the first lockdown hit, canoe slalom champ Kimberley Woods went from the water to training in her back garden. ​“Thankfully, the sunshine came for most of that,” says the 25-year-old. Working a rigorous schedule with her coaching team, the Warwickshire-born athlete was gearing up for the Olympics when her routine was turned upside down. But that time made her take stock and think about her biggest hurdles: depression and self-harm. ​“There’s not many people who actually open up about mental health. Talking about it publicly is almost like another step in recovery.”

The amount of support Woods received made her glad she spoke out in a BBC interview last summer. She’s since revealed how she overcame bullying and depression, and also explained why talking about women’s periods in sport should no longer be a taboo, encouraging others to do the same. ​“I never quite realised how much of an impact it would make until I did it and I’m so proud of myself. I have a story to tell.”

Imani wears top and trousers CHARLOTTE KNOWLES and shoes VERSACE

For Imani Lansiquot, sport opened the doors to self-discovery. ​“At a time when I was quite an unconfident and self-aware teenager, it enabled me to really break free and embrace my body and myself,” says the 100-metre sprinter. At 23, the South Londoner is 2020 British champion and at the top of her game. She’s now using her growing platform to make sport more accessible. ​“As athletes, it’s very easy to be boxed into one thing. You go on social media, you post a video of yourself in the gym, flexing your abs, and that’s what people think your life is. But I’m quite an introspective person and I take being a Black woman extremely seriously.”

When the world was galvanised by BLM last summer, the thought of not being part of the conversation left Lansiquot uneasy. ​“Diversity, inclusion and equality are all extremely important to me, especially within British athletics,” she adds. ​“Now, I take part in monthly online meetings where we have really honest, uncomfortable conversations about how to make the sport more inclusive by the time of the next Olympic Games.”

Celia wears top KEZAKO PARIS

Celia Quansah fell out of love with athletics. ​“I was 21, at uni in Loughborough and had a few injuries. It was time for a change,” she remembers. So, she switched to rugby. Within six months of playing for her uni team, Quansah had signed her first contract. ​“I always said to myself, if I’m going to do this, I want to play for England. I want to be the best.

Now 25, the southwest Londoner is one of the England Sevens hoping for a plane ticket to Tokyo this July. She’s finding her voice off the pitch, too. ​“The Black Lives Matter movement last year was massive for me,” she says. ​“I thought, how have I not educated myself more? As a queer Black woman, I began being vocal about LGBTQ+ rights. I realised my voice needs to be heard, and so do other sports people’s.”