When a swimming cap designed for natural Black hair was initially banned at the Tokyo Olympics, Talia Jermyn knew she wanted to research the topic further.
She discovered these types of institutional barriers not only reinforce racial disparities in elite swimming participation, but they also have serious implications far beyond the podium.
“It was another one of those seemingly small incidents that are much more insidious and represent a bigger issue,” the fourth-year Kinesiology student said. “Swimming is a crucial life skill and there is research showing a strong inverse relationship between Black competitive swimming rates and Black drowning rates, which is extremely alarming.”