Minority athletes hope their Olympic journeys will sway intolerant hearts and minds

Before she cut the air on the world’s biggest sporting stage with head-spinning, gravity-defying moves, Logan Edra, aka B-Girl Logistx, held herself with a razor-sharp focus.

Brows furrowed and hands anchored at her hips, Team USA’s youngest breaker this year seemed more serious than some of her competitors at the Paris Olympics. This was not just a contest for the 21-year-old daughter of Filipino immigrants, but a pressure-packed chance to bring her cultural heritage into a traditionally American art form for all to see.

Representing both Filipinos and immigrant families more broadly was “the most overwhelming part" of breaking on the Olympic stage, Edra said, calling it “a different layer of love.”

As the spotlight now shifts to the Paralympics, athletes like Edra shoulder not only their countries’ hopes for gold, but the responsibility of representing their identities and cultures, which spectators increasingly scrutinize.