At Dakar’s Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor, Jeremy Konko from the Nike and Air Afrique collective photographed Nafissatou Thiam, one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of women’s athletics. But Thiam’s participation in Nike and Air Afrique’s Académie des Airs extended beyond being the subject of a portrait. Invited to serve as a teacher in the programme, she brought the experience of an extraordinary sporting career into conversation with a new generation of artists and athletes, before taking to the track to coach young Senegalese track and field athletes.

Born in Brussels to a Belgian mother and Senegalese father, Thiam represents Belgium internationally while maintaining a direct connection to her father’s homeland. Her principal discipline, the heptathlon, is among the most demanding events in athletics. Competitors must master seven disciplines across two days: the 100-metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin, and 800 metres. Success requires an exceptional combination of speed, strength, technical ability, endurance, and versatility. Thiam has established herself as one of the discipline’s defining figures, winning Olympic gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 before making history at Paris 2024. She became the first athlete in combined-events history, male or female, to win three consecutive Olympic titles. She is also a two-time world champion and multiple European champion.

For Académie des Airs, however, the interest was not simply in what Thiam had achieved, but in the experiences that made those achievements possible. Through The First Time of…, a series of conversations bringing legendary athletes into dialogue with the artist-photographers participating in the Visions Neuves project, the programme considered the significance of beginnings in a professional life. From the gradual accumulation of experience to moments of doubt, the discussions explored what it takes to pursue personal goals, develop a distinct trajectory, and leave a mark in time, whether through sport or the arts. Thiam’s conversation with the Durimel brothers, titled The First Time of… Nafissatou Thiam, focused on the first experiences in a career that can change everything. It offered an opportunity to consider the less visible dimensions of sporting achievement: the decisions, uncertainty, discipline, and persistence that exist behind a champion’s public record.

The exchange also moved beyond the conversation itself. Thiam subsequently coached local Senegalese teenage track and field athletes, sharing her knowledge of the sport directly with young people developing their own ambitions. This practical encounter gave her role as a teacher a different significance. For the young athletes, the opportunity to learn from a three-time Olympic champion was not simply an encounter with an international sporting figure, but an opportunity to engage with someone whose experience could make the possibilities of an athletic career feel more tangible. Her presence connected the highest levels of international competition with the aspirations of young athletes in Senegal.

Thiam’s involvement also reflects a wider dimension of her work beyond the track. As a Nike athlete, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and founding member of Nike’s Athlete Think Tank, she has participated in conversations around the experiences and opportunities of women and girls in sport. Her contribution to Académie des Airs extends this engagement into a cross-disciplinary setting, where the lessons of elite athletics meet the questions and practices of contemporary image-making.

Photographed at a stadium named after Senegal’s first president, and later working directly with young Senegalese athletes, Thiam’s presence in Dakar carries a deeply personal and cultural resonance. Her career has been built on representing Belgium on the international stage, but her Senegalese heritage gives the encounter another common point. Within Visions Neuves, her portrait becomes part of a wider exploration of African identities and sporting culture, while her role in Académie des Airs gives that representation a living dimension. She arrived not only as an athlete whose achievements have entered Olympic history, but as someone able to share the knowledge behind them, passing experience on.