French Sprinter Banned from Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony for Wearing Hijab

Sounkamba Sylla, a 26-year-old French sprinter, has been barred from participating in the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics because she wears a hijab.

Sounkamba Sylla, a 26-year-old French sprinter, has been barred from participating in the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics because she wears a hijab. Sylla expressed her frustration on her social media last weekend.

"You are selected for the Olympics, organized in your country, but you can’t participate in the opening ceremony because you wear a headscarf," she wrote on Instagram, according to The Associated Press.

French Sprinter Banned from Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony for Wearing Hijab

Sylla is a member of France’s 400-meter women's and mixed team relays. However, France enforces secular laws, and French Olympic Committee President David Lappartient said French Olympians are ordered to follow secular principles that apply to public sector workers, which includes a ban on hijabs.

"It’s perhaps sometimes not understandable in other countries in the world, but it’s part of our DNA here in France," Lappartient said.

French Sprinter Banned from Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony for Wearing Hijab

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has guidelines that allow athletes to wear religious head coverings during competition, but each country's Olympic committee is responsible for determining its own rules for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Sylla routinely wears a hijab while competing. She ran with a black headscarf in several events, including the 2022 and 2023 world championships and the World Relays in May 2024.

French Sprinter Banned from Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony for Wearing Hijab

Lappartient said talks were underway to come to a solution to allow Sylla to participate in the ceremonies in a way her "beliefs are respected."

"I have no doubt that a solution can be found," he said. "We hope that everyone can take part in the opening ceremony."

The ban on religious head coverings is a sensitive issue in France, where there is a long history of tension between secularism and religious expression. In 2004, France passed a law banning students from wearing religious symbols, including hijabs, in public schools.

The law was controversial, and there have been several legal challenges to it. In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the law was a legitimate way to protect secularism.

The ban on religious head coverings has been criticized by some human rights groups, who argue that it discriminates against Muslim women. Others argue that the law is necessary to maintain France's secular values.

The debate over religious head coverings is likely to continue in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics. It remains to be seen whether Sylla will be allowed to participate in the opening ceremonies.