The artwork, which was painted outside the Italian Olympic Committee’s Rome headquarters​​ after Italy’s historic gold at the Paris Games, was vandalised on Tuesday – just hours after it was first unveiled.

The mural depicted Egonu, who was born in Italy’s Veneto region to Nigerian parents, as she jumped to hit a ball with the words ‘stop racism, hate, xenophobia, ignorance’.

As-yet-unidentified vandals erased the ball from the mural and sprayed pink paint over Egonu’s skin.

Miserabili, #italvolley #egonu pic.twitter.com/7ThQBWLtZa

— Luca Telese (@lucatelese) August 13, 2024

The episode sparked widespread outrage on Tuesday, with members of the government and opposition leaders condemning it as an act of vile racism. 

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressed “the utmost indignation for this grave gesture of vulgar racism”, saying that Egonu is “our pride”.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri slammed it as a “vile insult to a great Italian,” while Annalisa Corrado, an MP from centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said it was a gesture of “spite towards an evolving world and inclusion” perpetrated by “cowards”.

Ivan Zaytsev, the former captain of Italy’s men’s volleyball team, also commented on the incident, saying he was “sickened by these hypocritical and ignorant attempts at destabilisation, division and ingratitude”.

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Titled Italianità (‘Italianness’), the mural was intended by popular street artist Laika as a response to right-wing MEP General Roberto Vannacci’s previous assertion that Egonu’s “physical features do not represent ‘Italianness'”.

Vannacci doubled down on the controversial view on Sunday after the Italian women’s volleyball team beat defending champions US to win their first-ever Olympic gold.

“I congratulate all athletes, including Paola Egonu, who is an excellent athlete,” Vannacci told the AGI news agency. 

“I have never questioned her ‘Italianness’, but reiterate that her physical features do not represent the majority of Italians,” he added.

His comments drew immediate backlash in Italy.

Raffaella Paita, a senator from the centrist Italia Viva party, said Vannacci was “sullying” the national team’s win with “his shameful crusades”. 

Tommaso Antonino Calderone, an MP from the centre-right Forza Italia party, said: “Can’t he keep quiet for a while? Thank you Egonu, thank you girls.”

Egonu, who’s been an Italian citizen since the age of 14, has been the target of racist abuse on multiple occasions during her professional career. 

In October 2022, she took a break from the Italian national team after being on the receiving end of racist comments and attacks during the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.

Footage taken at a game on October 15th 2022 showed her in tears, telling her coach: “You can’t understand. It’s exhausting. They even asked me why I’m Italian. This is my last game with the national team.”

She then announced she would return to the national team in July 2023 following a nine-month hiatus.