When Sifan Hassan stepped onto the Olympic podium to accept her gold medal for the record-setting marathon she ran on Sunday, she used her platform to show support to Muslim women around the world by wearing a hijab. In many parts of the world, the choice wouldn’t have been noteworthy, but in Paris, where French athletes were banned from wearing hijabs during this year’s Olympics, it sent a powerful message.
Hassan — an Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete — doesn’t appear to usually wear a hijab, making her decision to wear one on Sunday night all the more stirring. On X, people praised her decision to support athletes and other hijabis in France, who are frequently discriminated against for wearing religious coverings.
France’s refusal to let its athletes wear religious head coverings was met with criticism from international organizations like Amnesty International and the United Nations, but the International Olympic Committee ultimately decided that the decision was up to France as the host country. Egyptian Olympic volleyball players Marwa Abdelhady and Doaa Elghobashy, who wore hijabs while competing this year and in the past, said they were disappointed in France’s decision. “I want to play in my hijab, she wants to play in a bikini,” Elghobashy told Swedish outlet Expressen. “Everything is OK, if you want to be naked or wear a hijab. Just respect all different cultures and religions.”
