Risper Biyaki is a high-performance athlete, a star in the 10000-metre run, and has also run steeplechase against racism, even when she wants to go home to Zacatecas, Mexico, after competitions and training races, as she shares later. However, she remains convinced that sports can improve the world and reunite people, so she calls for prioritizing it and undertaking policies to eradicate discrimination.
Risper has been interested in sports since she was a girl in Kenya. She saw athletes on television leaving their countries, competing, winning, and returning to a country that celebrated them. She participated in school sports games and competed in races in different countries. She arrived in Mexico in 2017. Then she settled in Zacatecas and became a naturalized Mexican citizen.
I can turn sports into something valuable for our people and our women. So, when I had the opportunity in Mexico, I said: let me do it and go further.
Many Mexicans were shocked because a black woman represented Mexico at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in 2019. She was the target of hate speech despite having everything in order, winning the silver medal for Mexico in the 10,000-meters race, and achieving a milestone for all Afro-descendant people, a landmark which sports news spaces could not report.
It was historical for African people. It was historical for me. Through sports, a good relationship has been created between Kenya and Mexico, uniting them because they don't see if I am Kenyan or from somewhere else.
Risper comments that in football, the power of sport is evident. It is a sport where several players cross borders, compete as an only team and win, particularly in the men's division. That is normal for all of us. Therefore, she reiterates that sport should be prioritized and valued as a source of unity that has brought people together to expand their values through its multiple modalities and disciplines.
So, she is convinced that sports have responded to the vision of being a mechanism for unity, dialogue from diversity and difference, and the promotion of cooperation, as indicated by the International Day of Sport for Peace and Development in 2024, which calls for reflection on "Sport as a promoter of peaceful and inclusive societies." However, it is necessary to accompany the actions with parallel public policies which address other correlated issues, such as sexism and racism.
For example, the medallist shares another of her experiences when travelling by bus for her competitions within the country and trying to return home to Zacatecas when a desk agent at a bus station denied her transportation, saying that the company only sold tickets to Mexicans.
The seller woman justified herself by saying it was a federal law and asked for her passport. So Risper showed her INE, the official identification in Mexico, but the woman said then that the bus was full.
Like in other countries in Latin America where the presence, resistance, and contributions of Indigenous Peoples, as well as Afro-descendant communities, have been hidden, denied, belittled, or at least made invisible in development projects, Mexico is still affected by the idea of mestizaje (Miscegenation) as national identity.
The athlete recounts that she could see the available seats on the computer screen the woman had next to her. Behind the desk, another screen showed the bus schedules. She then asked for a ticket for the one leaving in 30 minutes or an hour, but the seller kept saying there were no available departures.
Cases like Risper's show the urgency of public policies based on evidence and guided by a comprehensive and intercultural vision. In this regard, UNESCO links the production of updated scientific knowledge with governance and provides technical assistance to Member States through its programs on sports and against racism and discrimination to accelerate inclusive and sustainable development, as it would be unfair to deny the multiple actions of resistance and resilience around the world.
Those who are discriminating or having the character of racist, I want to tell you that there is nothing you can do if someone has a talent, the person has to pursue it, and there is no way you cannot stop the talent of a person.
Risper continues her story and recounts that when she realized the bus she initially wanted to board was leaving, the seller asked for her identification, said she would consult the case with her superior and went away with the athlete's credential.
Despite the recurrence of these situations, in which she comments that many Kenyan athletes end up sleeping in bus terminals after competing in races, she remains convinced that sport is a means to transform the world and promote unity, as it happens in Zacatecas, where made friends and tells them that she will always be with them.
Through sports, we are united. In many countries, we have different athletes who are born in another country that are participating for another country [...] Let's stop the habit of discrimination like if we give a person a position, maybe they can take everything.
On the other hand, the athlete comments that women are increasingly accessing education and can do what they want for themselves. But she recognizes that society may forget that a family needs to help each other for its members and cannot depend on a single person to sustain itself, including household and care work, so she invited women to remember that they have spaces to conquer and enjoy outside their homes.
For the athlete, sports and physical activity allow for creating job opportunities and self-employment, improving behaviour and learning by strengthening self-esteem and confidence, contributing to physical, mental, and social health, uniting people and promoting dialogue among nations and communities in a sustainable way; as well as exercising interculturality because its practice has rules of coexistence and interaction along with respect.
Risper also participated in the sports session of the third UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination in 2023 in Brazil, alongside Olympic medallists Daiane dos Santos, a Brazilian gymnast, and Fernanda Garay, a volleyball player from Brazil.
In its 219th session in March 2024, the UNESCO Executive Board approved the creation of the Fit for Life Network of Athletes against Racism and Racial Discrimination, which seeks to enhance collective efforts to combat racism in sports and through it. The Mexican athlete of Kenyan origin, Risper Biyaki, has confirmed her adherence to the international Network.
The initiative will also contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of UNESCO's Roadmap against Racism and Discrimination and reinforce initiatives and activities to counteract racism in sports and other fields.
