Egyptian beach volleyball team blast French hijab ban

An Egyptian women’s beach volleyball pair called out France’s hijab ban for its country’s athletes after playing in the 2024 Paris Olympics last week.

Egyptians Marwa Abdelhady and Doaa Elghobashy wore hijabs, black leggings and long-sleeve T-shirts while facing off against Spain in a women’s beach volleyball match Aug. 1. The Spanish opponents wore bikinis during the match.

“I want to play in my hijab, she wants to play in a bikini,” Elghobashy told Expressen last week. “Everything is OK, if you want to be naked or wear a hijab. Just respect all different cultures and religions.”

“I don’t tell you to wear a hijab and you don’t tell me to wear a bikini. No one can tell me how to dress. It’s a free country, everyone should be allowed to do what they want,” she continued, per Expressen.

Elghobashy made history at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, becoming the first athlete to play volleyball in a hijab at the Olympics.

If Elghobashy and Abdelhady were playing for France this year, they would not have been permitted to wear their hijabs due to the country’s rule prohibiting female Muslim athletes from wearing a sports hijab or headscarves during the Olympics. The hijab bans apply to athletes at all levels of French sports, including amateur and youth levels, according to Amnesty International.

In January 2022, the French senate voted to ban hijab and other “ostensible religious symbols” in sports competitions. In September of last year, it was confirmed the ban would also apply to the French athletes participating in the Paris Olympics, CNN reported.

Days ahead of the Olympics, French Olympic sprinter Sounkamba Sylla said she would not be permitted to participate in the opening ceremony because of her 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,” Sylla said on her private Instagram, according to The Associated Press.

She eventually did participate in the ceremony, wearing a hat to cover her hair, in accordance with an agreement she reached with the French Olympic Committee, the CBC reported.