French athlete Sounkamba Sylla, a member of the 400m women’s and mixed relay team, has been banned from participating in the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony slated to take place on Friday.
The decision to ban her from the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony comes due to France’s secular principles that apply to the public sector workers in France, separating church and state, and putting a ban on the hijab.
“You are selected for the Olympics, organized in your country, but you can’t participate in the opening ceremony because you wear a headscarf,” the 26-year-old wrote in her social media post earlier in the week.
The ban on Sylla comes after France’s Minister of Sport said that the athletes representing the nation will be prohibited from displaying religious symbols during sporting events that include the hijab.
“It’s perhaps sometimes not understandable in other countries in the world, but it’s part of our DNA here in France,” David Lappartient said.
However, discussions are going on with Sylla to find a solution that adheres to the French Olympic team. Some media reports speculated that the French sprinter might join the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony wearing a cap.
The stance to ban the hijab for French athletes at Paris 2024 was criticized by Maria Hurtado, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in September last year, saying that “no one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear, or not wear”.
