interview
Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo
“I don’t fit into European ideals of beauty”
Malaika Mihambo
© PR P&G
Malaika Mihambo is an Olympic champion and two-time world champion in the long jump. Away from the diving pit, she is interested in the environment and meditates regularly. She talks to us about mindfulness and the visibility of people of color.
She is one of the most successful athletes in Germany: Malaika Mihambo is a two-time world champion in the long jump and has already been named athlete of the year three times. The Heidelberg native won the gold medal at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo – and will compete again in Paris in 2024. As a sponsor of the games, Procter & Gamble (known for the brands Ariel, Pampers and Gillette Venus, among others) will accompany the athlete on her “Road to Paris” next summer.
The top athlete is also studying for a master’s degree in environmental sciences and published her first book “Jump yourself free: My path to… Mindfulness and inner strength”. The 29-year-old tells us in an exclusive interview how she manages to reconcile all of this – and achieve top performance at the same time. As a person of color, she also campaigns against racism and explains the importance of visibility of your own group.
Malaika Mihambo in an exclusive BRIGITTE interview
BRIGITTE: How do you deal with the mental pressure of having to deliver at big competitions?
Malaika Mihambo: Of course, as a competitive athlete, I always have the right to achieve top performance. Every day. At the same time, I try to enter big competitions and especially in the competitions as freely and without expectations as possible Olympic Games to go because I know: I have already achieved everything you could imagine and wish for in my life as an athlete. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore. My goal is to simply do my best, have a good competition and be able to say at the end that I performed at my best that day and gave it my all.
Your secret weapon in competition is meditation
Since 2018 you have been meditating regularly and doing mindfulness exercises. What do sport and mindfulness have to do with each other for you?
In order to find and maintain my own center, it is important for me to meditate. I’ve been practicing this for many years. I also do intensive self-reflection. It helps me to be with myself and come to myself. That’s also my strength in competition: that I can always find myself back and, above all, in the moment and don’t get stuck on whether I’ve made one or even two bad attempts. Then for me there is neither past nor future, but only this one moment.
You can only get better if you constantly work on yourself – this applies to physical training as well as mental training. This is the case in sport, but also in all other aspects of life. Mindfulness, self-reflection, hard work and discipline and the will to work on yourself are very good companions on the way to top performance.
You study environmental sciences, wrote a book, accept Olympia part. How do you reconcile all of this?
That’s correct. I am not only a competitive athlete, but also a student studying for a master’s degree in environmental sciences. I can manage it all because I’m passionate about the topics and learned to set priorities very early on through competitive sports. I believe that in modern society we are increasingly becoming aware of how important our environment is and that we live in harmony with the environment. I like it when I have a mental balance in addition to the sporting and physical ones.
That’s why the visibility of your own group is so important
When exercising, the focus is on the body. How comfortable you used to be in your body felt?
I have always felt comfortable in my body. It was different with the classic European ideals of beauty, which I simply didn’t fit into. After all, there are more diverse beauty ideals and more these days visibility for people outside the mainstream.
Were there any specific situations that negatively affected your self-esteem?
No, fortunately not. It was more of a subliminal process. For example, many children’s shows and books did not have people of color characters or main characters. People searched in vain for tips on hair care or hairstyles for Afro hair in teen magazines. Asian or African-looking models were rarely found in magazines. If the visibility of one’s own group within a society is missing, then that affects people.
If we better self-reflect on our words and actions and stand up for the rights of everyone equally, then we can actively contribute to making society a place where everyone feels comfortable and can develop freely, regardless of skin color, gender or gender identification .
How do you now deal with everyday racism?
First of all, it is important to emphasize that terms such as “everyday racism” should be avoided because they suggest that racism is part of everyday life and is anchored as an integral part of social life. I think the question is less about how I personally deal with racism, but rather how we deal with it as a society. Because basically everyone is involved in racism – either as a victim, perpetrator or bystander. So we as a society allow this to happen. Ultimately, it helps to start with yourself: Everyone can ask themselves: When was the last time I was a perpetrator or bystander and what can I do better next time?
If we better self-reflect on our words and actions and stand up for the rights of everyone equally, then we can actively contribute to making society a place where everyone feels comfortable and can develop freely, regardless of skin color, gender or gender identification .