Five hijab-wearing athletes to look out for at the Paris Olympics
France has stopped its own athletes wearing headscarves, but many others will continue to do so proudly
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Days before the 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony is held in Paris, France came under fire from sports and civil rights organisations. On 24 September 2023, sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra announced a ban prohibiting the wearing of hijabs by athletes representing the country. In recent weeks she has doubled down on the decision.
Though French sporting authorities have expressed a commitment to the Olympic values of “excellence, respect and friendship”, groups including Human Rights Watch and the Sport & Rights Alliance have called out the “discriminatory hypocrisy” of prohibiting the wearing of headscarves by national sportspeople. The ruling has a direct effect on French Muslim athletes including basketball players Salimata Sylla and Helene Ba, who have both previously worn hijabs while competing.
“How can such values be embraced when the French authorities’ efforts to improve gender equality and inclusivity in sports do not apply to one group of women and girls?” asked Amnesty International in an article about the decision.
While the ban only applies to French athletes, sports campaign groups warn that it violates the rights of Muslim women and girls, and has a “devastating impact on their participation in sport”.
Here are five trailblazing athletes from around the world who will be wearing hijabs at Paris 2024.
Tina Rahimi, Australia
When she steps into the ring in Paris, Tina Rahimi (pictured above) will be the first female Muslim boxer to represent Australia at the Olympic Games. That achievement comes two years after winning bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Despite only taking up boxing as a hobby in 2017, Rahimi now has her sights set on gold in the women’s featherweight contest.
Taking part in combat sports as a hijabi woman has not been easy for Rahimi. In a recent interview, she described repeated experiences of discrimination. She has also expressed her frustration with the French authorities’ decision on Instagram.
“It’s so unfortunate for the athletes in France because [wearing the hijab] has nothing to do with your performance and it should not get in the way of you being an athlete,” she said.
“It’s so hard to be an Olympic athlete and to think that you have to give away your faith to participate in these events. Everyone should be equal — how is my hijab going to affect anything?”
Safiya al-Sayegh, United Arab Emirates
At just 22, Emirati cyclist Safiya al-Sayegh is the first woman cyclist from the United Arab Emirates to compete in the Olympic road race. Her sporting journey began eight years ago, when she and her father took bike rides around their neighbourhood together.
Al-Sayegh has come a long way since then. In 2023 she took part in her first UCI Women’s World Tour event with the professional UAE Team ADQ and travelled to Hangzhou, China, to compete in the Asian Games.
Now she hopes to be in the running for a medal in Paris. As she explained in a recent interview: “I am trying to pave a way that no other woman ever did in my country, which is a privilege and a big responsibility, too. I’d like to set the standard high and do my best for whoever wants to follow.”
Dunya Abutaleb, Saudi Arabia
Starting out in taekwondo at eight years old, Saudi champion Dunya Abutaleb trained at a boys’ club because there were no girls to compete with. Now 27, she is the first Saudi Arabian woman to earn an Olympic team place to compete in the sport.
Abutaleb’s competition record is impressive, winning bronze medals at the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, and at the 2022 Asian Championships. She is now determined to shine in the Olympic women’s 49kg competition.
“Being the first woman is a great challenge for me — when I achieve in my sport, I don’t do it only in my name. I do it in the name of Saudi Arabia,” she has said.
Marwa Bouzayani, Tunisia
Tunisian 3,000m steeplechaser Marwa Bouzayani is gearing up for her second Olympics in Paris. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, she came in sixth place. No doubt, she will be hoping to improve on that performance this year.
Bouzayani, who competes in a hijab and modest attire, has said she hopes to be a role model for Muslim girls, showing them “that success in elite sports can be realised without forsaking religious values and beliefs”.
Khadija el-Mardi, Morocco
In 2023, Moroccan heavyweight Khadija el-Mardi became the first African and the first Arab woman to win gold in an international amateur boxing tournament. Since taking first place at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, she has been hailed as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport.
El-Mardi turned to boxing after being picked on by bullies as a child. Although her family were initially against the idea, she joined a local club and trained in secret. She went on to make her parents proud but faced a terrible loss in 2014 when her mother died after suffering a heart attack while cheering her on at a tournament in Marrakech.
Now 33, el-Mardi has won a series of gold medals at events including the 2022 African Amateur Boxing Championships in Maputo, Mozambique, and the 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana. She has said she owes her success to her family, especially her mother, and that winning a medal at the Olympics would be “a dream come true”.
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