This seems to be Naomi Osaka's year. All that's missing is an Olympic medal and that may be remedied in a few days as the Tokyo Olympics gets underway Friday, July 23.
Named Woman Athlete of the Year by ESPN last week, an essay in TIME magazine, the debut of a 3-part Netflix special and the unveiling of a Naomi-lookalike Barbie doll, Osaka is used to breaking barriers.
This week, the four-time Grand Slam champion is one of three women who graces the coveted cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit edition. Also on the covers of the magaine are rapper Megan Thee Stallioin and transgender activist Leyna Bloom.
“There’s no question that Naomi is one of the best athletes in the world, and a cover spot felt obvious. She’s spent her formative years racking up titles and is headed to the Olympics. But we celebrate Naomi for her passion, strength and power geared towards consistently breaking barriers when it comes to equality, social justice, and mental health,” says SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day.
More pointedly, Osaka is also the first Black woman athlete picked for the SI cover, even though there have been so many Black women athletes competing in any number of sports.
"I wouldn't have thought that I would have been the first one," Osaka said of being the first Black female athlete on a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover in a video interview with Tyra Banks that accompanied the issue. Banks was the first Black woman to star on the cover of the magazine alone.
"I'm glad that this barrier is being broken," Osaka told Banks.
"I hope there are many, many more people to come and I'm sure there are going to be," said Osaka, who will be playing for Japan, where she was born, in the Olympics.
"I'm so proud to be the first Japanese and Haitian woman to grace one of the covers. I feel like that multi-cultural background is present in all of the things that I do. I try to incorporate it in everything, so hopefully, you see that," Osaka said in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. "My memories [of the magazine] kind of involves the people that I grew up admiring, so I remember Tyra Banks's issue, I remember Beyonce's. Just growing up and watching so many incredible women grace this cover, for me, it feels like a dream."
"For me, I feel like I've always been one to not want to use my voice" she continued in the video. "but then I feel like there's also a lot of things that have happened and over the past year I just feel like there has to be someone that speaks about uncomfortable things."
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