French Runner Wears Hat Instead of Hijab to Cover Hair at Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony

PARIS – French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla will be allowed to participate in the opening ceremony at Paris 2024 Olympics wearing a hat to cover her hair. This was the result of an agreement reached with the French Olympic Committee after Sylla said she was prohibited from wearing a hijab.

The opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics is scheduled to take place on the Seine River, Saturday (27/7/2024) early morning WIB. Later, host athletes who take part in the parade will wear special uniforms that are made luxuriously.

“In consultation with the French Athletics Federation, the French Ministry of Sports, Paris 2024 and Berluti, discussions were held with Sounkamba Sylla. He was offered the possibility of wearing the cap during the parade, which he accepted,” the French Olympic Committee said in a statement as quoted by Firstpost, Friday (26/7/2024).

France upholds the strict principle of laicite, loosely translated as secularism. The president of the French Olympic Committee said that French Olympic athletes are bound by the secular principles that apply to public sector workers in France that separate state and church, which includes a ban on wearing the hijab.

However, Sylla, who will compete in the women’s and mixed relays for France, posted a message on her Instagram account to announce that a deal had been struck.

“We finally reached an agreement so that I can take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympics,” said the 26-year-old Sylla. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your mobilization and support from the very beginning.”

A similar solution was found at the European Championships in Rome earlier this year. Sylla, who had competed in a black hijab at several previous events, was asked to compete in a blue cap that had a strip of fabric sewn in to cover her hair.

(fly)