Australian boxer Tina Rahimi has voiced her opposition to France’s hijab ban, which prohibits certain French athletes from wearing religious head coverings in specific sports at the Olympics.
“Women have the right to choose their attire,” Rahimi, who participated in the Paris 2024 opening ceremony on Friday, expressed in an Instagram post. “With or without hijab. I opt to wear the hijab as a part of my faith, and I take pride in that decision.”
Rahimi is Australia’s first female Muslim boxer to compete in the Olympics. The 28-year-old from Bankstown in south-west Sydney sports long sleeves and a hijab under protective headgear during her matches.
“Athletes shouldn’t have to choose between their beliefs or religion and their sports,” Rahimi emphasized. “This is the dilemma that French athletes are being made to face.”
The hijab ban in France exclusively targets French competitors at the Games, not international athletes. This restriction affects sports like football, basketball, volleyball, and boxing, and extends across all levels of competition, including amateur events.
“Regardless of how you look, what you wear, your ethnicity, or the religion you practice,” Rahimi stated in her post, “we unite for a singular goal: to compete and succeed. Nobody should be marginalized. Discrimination has no place in sports, especially in the Olympics and what it represents.”
In June, a coalition, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, addressed a letter to the International Olympic Committee denouncing the ban and calling for IOC action.
“The regulations enforced by French sports authorities are discriminatory, hindering Muslim athletes who choose to wear the hijab from exercising their human right to participate in sports without any form of discrimination,” the letter stated. “These bans contradict human rights obligations for host nations and the IOC’s Strategic Framework on Human Rights, and they stand in direct opposition to the core values of Olympism.”
Prior to the opening ceremony, French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla faced exclusion due to her headscarf; ultimately, a solution was found, allowing her to join the ceremony by donning a cap over her hair.
after newsletter promotion
France has a longstanding history of attempting to regulate or prohibit the wearing of religious symbols, often justified under the principle of laïcité (secularism).
Rahimi is set to make her Olympic debut on Friday in the women’s featherweight division. She secured a bronze medal for Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and currently holds the title of Pacific Games champion.
