More Simone Biles, Please: How to Get Black Women into International Sports

Simone Biles and Skye Blakely are the cream of the crop, representing the best America and Black women have to offer at this year’s Olympic Games. But, there are unfair and unnecessary hurdles keeping more Black women like them from these life-changing opportunities.

What can a young Black woman from Bloomfield, New Jersey reveal about opportunities for Black women athletes to live and compete internationally? 

That’s the focus of the interview below. The answer to this question could explain whether Biles and Blakely are atypical, or if many more Black women should be competing on their level but can’t due to discrimination.

First, a quick summary of the hurdles. Income requirements are still the largest barrier of entry for Black women who want to move abroad, whether they move as talent or through traditional methods. For example, Natalia Toby, the Black female athlete interviewed below, received an exclusive talent visa from France after ranking top 20 in U.S. fencing. However, the $20,000 required in a blocked savings account almost kept her from securing that visa on time.

“That $20,000 that I had like quickly vanished,” Natalia shared, “because a lot of Olympic-level sports don't pay their athletes at all…I was even telling a friend that like I probably spend like $20,000 or $25,000 or probably even more every year just on fencing alone…[so] I need to make that and then [earn] money for rent for the year.”

Even when the money’s available, representation is stifled by other means. Currently, only 5 percent of NCAA athletes are Black women, compared to 29 and 33 percent for White women and White men, respectively.

Becoming a Simone Biles or Skye Blakely requires significant investment in athletic training beginning in middle school, and as statistics show, very few Black women go from there to collegiate sports. Nineteen-year-old Blakely is especially an anomaly, given she grew up in one of the few U.S. cities with a low number of Black families living near or at the poverty level.

Bloomfield, NJ, with a higher Black population than Blakely’s hometown of Frisco (TX), has disproportionately more Black people who are unhoused. This means a Black woman like Natalia beat the odds of affording the intensive training needed to become the top recruited—and only—Black woman in U.S. fencing during her draft year.

Here’s more information Natalia provides on the opportunities and costs to Black women using sports to travel or live abroad:

Natalia Toby in her fencing gear.

Why are you not living in America while playing for an American team?So, fencing is a very individual sport, so we don't need to be together to train. If you were fencing for France, you're not necessarily allowed to leave the French team and their…structure because that's just their rules. But in the U.S. we're all scattered around…and [you’re allowed to] leave. You can train anywhere as long as you're representing Team USA...

I've always heard of the World Cup for soccer. Can you explain what the World Cup is and why fencing is included?

Every sport has a World Cup. It just depends on the sport. For instance, I believe that for soccer they have their World Cup every like 3 years.

We have five World Cups [in fencing] every year. And you have to be a top 12 [athlete] in the U.S. to qualify.

Now I am in the top 12, so I am qualified for the rest of this season…

How does a Black girl in Bloomfield, New Jersey find out about fencing or become interested in fencing? And walk me through that journey of you finally saying “Let me look abroad as well.”
I think I was in middle school at the time. And they had summer camps. All of the sports were full and the only two that were available were cooking and then fencing. So my mom signed me up for cooking and fencing. I hated cooking but fencing was pretty okay.

I did it for one summer, and then the next. The counselors were like, “we think you're really, really good and you have something. You should come fence with us at our club.” I did that for, I don't know, four years. I never really planned too big in the future.

Natalia Toby in European fencing match.

I didn't think, well, OK, I love fencing. I was just like, OK…it’s cool. 

It was my senior year of high school when I thought…I might as well fence in college. And I didn't think I would get a lot of options…I wasn’t really that good. I started four years ago at the time and people have been fencing since they were like 6 years old, right. So I applied to a whole bunch of colleges and I got into a Division 1 school in New Jersey (it was Fairleigh Dickinson University) and I got a full ride which was very surprising!  When I was freshman I qualified for NCAA and I qualified three years in a row.

Later, my then boyfriend saw there was a spot opening up for Daniel Lavivicia, which was the coach that I was with. And there's this fencer [he worked with] named Laura Flessel, and she's an amazing! Not even just fencer, but athlete, period. She was even-

The Minister of Sports in France, right? This is major.

OMG, she was the reason why I started fencing because everyone was like, “oh your fencing looks just like hers!”

Laura Flessel-Colovic, Former Minister for Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games of France

So for 10 months, I tried to get my visa and get everything started because we were still in COVID, so I had some time. And then, yeah, I moved out here.

Can you walk me through the visa process?

It was really hard and easy at the same time. Easy, I would say, because I had a talent visa. And I don't think a lot of countries have that. But you're not allowed to have a working visa [at the same time]. So that's the tricky part. So for me, the hard part was, how to show [the French government] you have either six or eight months of finances [saved up] to move there? I think it had to be like $20,000 or $30,000 that you had to have. So that's the hard part.

Sorry, let me just confirm: $20,000, not $2,000? No, $3,000?

Yeah…for me that $20,000 that I had quickly vanished because a lot of Olympic-level sports don't pay athletes at all. So for me I was even telling a friend that I probably spend like $25,000 or probably even more, every year just on fencing alone. And for some people that’s a privilege because some people in America, that's how much they make a year. And for me, it's like, OK, I need to make that and then money for rent for the year…and money to travel.

So just to clarify, if you had to renew your visa, you have to save a new, separate $20,000 in your account?

Yes, and they want to see it 3 months [in advance].

What was representation like for you in terms of your coaches before you moved abroad? How did that play into your decision-making? Did you feel comfortable? Or did you have imposter syndrome?

That's actually a really good question because I think it has layers to it. I never in my life felt like I had imposter syndrome when it came to being a Black woman. Like, I think how I like to look at life is, I'm in here, I'm taking up space, whether you like it or not, that's it.

I definitely did have some challenges where women, because I was on an all-girls team, some girls were like, “OK, I'm threatened by this person and I will let this person know.” But for me, it doesn't rub me the wrong way, because I expect that because I know I'm not like a quiet, shy person. I'm in everyone's face.

I went to school where you weren't allowed to make money from being an athlete. I always said this was modern-day slavery—you're using these people, you're using their bodies. But then they can't make money out of it.

When you go to the Olympics, they only pick four people. And Team France was just like, if you're not going [to compete with us], you're going to pay us back for every single competition you've done with us. And mind you, the cost per year is maybe $30,000. So if you competed for 10 years, that’s $30,000 times 10 years…

Is this in a contract that you signed?

No. And that's the thing. There is no contract. It's like you're just being bullied into staying.

You have a marketing company. Would you say that that's your passion and that fencing was just a vehicle for seeing the world and not something you see yourself doing in the long term?

When I first moved here I hated living here. I would always dream about like if I'd never moved and the life that I dream of is I would have my little spot in Brooklyn and I would be seeing my mom every Sunday, you know, for Sunday dinner and like having a really good job in marketing.

Because fencing comes first, I think it dictates where my life will lead me. And for right now, it's here. I don't ever see myself living back in New Jersey, because the fencing level [in France] is professional.

I thought marketing was my dream. But now that I've had some clarity, it's really just to pay for fencing. Because like I told you, the $30,000 is not going to come from thin air. I need to find a way to do that. So I think if I did have a consistent sponsorship and I knew, okay, not only are [sponsors] paying for fencing, but paying for me to live a comfortable life, I don't think I would necessarily work.

We go all over the world, but we don't really get to see the world. Because half of the time, you're stressed because you have to compete. Then when you do compete, it's like the next day you have to go home.

I know some people who are like, they're insane, like top five in the world. And they're in their mid-30s. And they seem like they want to have a family, but fencing comes first. And after fencing, I'm like, so what are you going to do afterward?

My advice: always have a plan other than sports, unless you're doing some multi-million dollar sport. Also, knowing how expensive your sport is before committing yourself to it is key…

Read more about Simone Biles' record-making feat here.