![]() Skating is more than that though-it gives her a mind-body connection, a sense of liberation, especially here in Ghana, she says, where she moves with a particular kind of ease. For now though, the bucket hat is a fair compromise.Ĭoel has always been a fast learner, the type to throw herself headfirst into new challenges: As a teenager, she took up Irish dancing, the only Black girl in her London high school’s history to join the team, performing at the talent show the same year. “If my skate teacher saw you he’d be like, ‘Where’s the helmet?’ ” she says. With guards on my wrists and elbows and kneepads strapped over my baggy jeans, I look like an overgrown teenage boy. The pair I’ve chosen have small wheels-the better to keep me grounded, I think. We’re in the parking lot of Decathlon, a sprawling French sports-supply store where she’s persuaded me to buy my first ’blades. “The balance is tough, but the enjoyment is max,” she says, grinning. She shows me her skates-white with gigantic lilac wheels-and tells me that big wheels equal great speed. Looking every inch the athlete, Coel shows up early for our meet, slender but strong in black running shorts and a sports bra, a purple baseball hat thrown over her closely cropped ’fro. It was a daredevil stunt suited more to an action movie than a Vogue cover shoot. The day before, in Accra’s historic Jamestown, I’d witnessed Coel flying through traffic on her skates, her polka-dot Burberry cape flapping wildly behind her, photographer Malick Bodian and his crew in hot pursuit. “Totally down for that, sounds like fun!!!” I respond via WhatsApp, adding one too many exclamation points out of apprehension. ![]() So I’m not all that surprised when the 35-year-old actor-writer-director suggests meeting for a Rollerblading session on a Sunday morning in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. Michaela Coel doesn’t like to sit still she’s a self-described mover, the type to run a half-marathon in the middle of the night for fun. ![]()
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