Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles are the real heroes of this summer’s sporting events

From Naomi Osaka taking a mental health break and then lighting the Olympic torch, to Simone Biles taking time out to focus on her wellbeing, women of colour (Woc) in the spotlight are displaying a new kind of bravery.

The bravery to say my body is mine, not yours. The bravery to not do what they’re told. The bravery to say, “no”. This is unprecedented.

If this summer’s sporting events have showed us anything, it is that there seems to be a “glitch in the matrix” of respectability politics. Something is happening in regards to how Woc navigate power – there are still demands for more representation, but also for boundaries and respect.

This goes against the truism and proverb almost every Woc has heard since childhood: “You’ll have to work twice as hard to get half as far.”

Women’s bodies are still treated as objects held up for judgement by society. People of colour are often fetishised for their physicality. Combine the two, and there is a deep-rooted (and often subconscious) misogynoir present.

Sociologist Matthew Hughey notes that at the turn of the century, when people of colour started to be recognised in professional sports, many commentators started to emphasise white cognitive superiority in contrast to the supposedly “savage” physical superiority of people of colour.

This fetishisation and judgement hasn’t gone away. Several studies show that when many white internet users were shown a series of faces, it was the black faces that were suspected to have superhuman speed, strength or height of jump.

This unconscious bias that defines people of colour almost exclusively by their physical prowess is what drives pundits to react with such (unjustified) shock and resentment. For example, Piers Morgan said that Biles “let down her country”, and Charlie Kirk branded her a “national embarrassment”.

The events of this summer’s sporting events are a big change from what people of colour, including athletes, have historically been forced to do: pursue a road of stoic fortitude, and perform as instructed.

Stars like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles show that perhaps the tide is changing – and this could reshape more than just sports. Their strength includes both strength and softness. They are human first, and the athletes we love second.

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Beyonce said: “I have paid my dues and followed every rule for decades, so now I can break the rules that need to be broken.”

My hope is that we are entering a new paradigm, one more flagrantly subversive and, dare I say, free. Woc should be able to practice self-care that is restorative enough for the physical, emotional and mental toll their work requires. Woc will continue to claim their right to compete or withdraw, to speak or be silent, to appear or disappear.

A movement began this summer that, hopefully, will usher in a new era that humanises not only our athletes, but people of colour everywhere.

Melissa Kiguwa is CEO of designer jewellery borrowing service Obánj and host of The Idealists podcast, in collaboration with the London School of Economics