Graffiti celebrating Italian volleyball player Paola Egonu vandalized after Italy won Olympic gold

ROME – The mayor of Rome and a chorus of others denounced the defacing of a celebration of street art by Paola Egonu, who helped bring Italy to its first Olympic gold medal in women’s volleyball and who faced years of racist abuse at home.

Egonu, who was born in Italy to parents of Nigerian origin, was named tournament MVP after leading Italy to victory over defending champions USA on Sunday in Paris. The gold medal capped a dominant Olympic tournament in which the Italians lost just one set.

Hours after the Games ended, street artist Laika celebrated Egonu with graffiti in front of the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee in Rome. Titled “Italianity”, the graffiti showed Egonu, with his trademark long ponytail, and wearing his blue Azzurri uniform, spiking a ball that had the words “Stop racism, hatred, xenophobia”.

It was a reference to the years of racist abuse Egonu suffered as a black athlete in Italy, with prominent figures regularly questioning her citizenship and “Italianity”. Egonu is Italian and was even awarded one of the country’s highest civilian honors in 2021 by the Italian president.

A day after images of Laika’s graffiti celebration began circulating, someone painted over the original work, turning Egonu’s dark skin pink and blurring the words on the volleyball.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri denounced the vandalism as a “vile and shameful insult” to both Egonu and Laika.

In a statement that praised Egonu’s athletic greatness and Laika’s commitment to the fight against xenophobia, Gualtieri said it was “sad that in 2024 there are still racists prisoners of their own ignorance who want to reverse the hands of history.”

Sometime on Tuesday, someone used a dark marker to try to restore Laika’s original drawing.

In 2022, Egonu threatened to quit the national team after being the target of racist abuse online questioning whether she was Italian, evidence of common assumptions here that any black person is a migrant.

In a social media post explaining the graffiti, Laika wrote that there is no place in Italy for xenophobia, racism, hatred or intolerance. “Racism is a social plague that must be overcome. Doing this through sport is very important,” wrote Laika.

The winning Italian volleyball team included other black Italians, as well as Ekaterina Antropova, a Russian who has long played in Italy and received Italian citizenship from the government last year.