Ibtihaj Muhammad Says France Is Forcing Olympians to "Choose Between Faith and Sport"

The 2024 Olympics are right around the corner — something Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad would typically be celebrating. But this year, she's calling the Games, or rather its host, "shameful."

"When I think of sport, I think of [it] as being an inclusive space — a space where you can come as you," the American fencer tells PS. But France's decision to ban its athletes from wearing hijabs at the 2024 Olympics is the opposite of that, Muhammad says.

The ban was announced in September 2023 despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having no rules against wearing religious coverings or headscarves. Human rights organizations have asked the French authorities to reverse the decision in recent months with no luck. And the ban has only garnered more attention as it contradicts recent claims that the Paris Games will be the first-ever gender-equal Olympics. Just this week, a new report from Amnesty International called out the ban and French authorities for "discriminatory hypocrisy" at the Olympic level — but also in other sports in France, including football, basketball, and volleyball, and in competitions, including youth and amateur ones. France has also banned the wearing of religious symbols, including hijabs, in schools since 2004.

"The French authorities made it emphatically and unashamedly clear however that their proclaimed efforts at improving gender equality and inclusivity in sports do not apply to one group of women and girls — those Muslim women and girls who wear religious head coverings," the Amnesty International Report states.

Muhammad couldn't agree more. "France is claiming to be the first equitable games, and it's laughable to say that it's equitable but to omit an entire group of people from that conversation of equity," she tells PS. "It's shameful."

On top of that, "they are forcing women to choose between faith and sport," Muhammad says.

"I spent more than half my life training and competing in a sport that I love, and I can't imagine having it taken away from me because of my religious beliefs — and that is essentially what France is doing," she adds. What's not being talked about, she says, is how this decision will trickle down beyond the world of professional athletes and into the mindset of Muslim women and girls in France, no matter their age or their level of sport.

"Children are going to ask themselves, 'If I want to play sport, what parts of myself do I need to change in order to make that happen?' And I think that that's an unfair thing to ask anyone to do," Muhammad says.

What's also disheartening is the lack of outrage from French athletes and the IOC, she says. "I follow a ton of French athletes online, in fencing and other sports. I haven't heard many people speak out against this. But I will say that a lot of times when it comes to underrepresented communities, especially those who are Muslim, we've normalized silence," Muhammad says.

As for the IOC, Muhammad is also questioning its decision not to speak out more publicly on the ban, especially given that the IOC allows athletes to wear religious headwear.

When PS reached out to the IOC for comment, they sent along a statement clarifying, "at the Olympic Games, the IOC rules and the technical rules of the International Federations (IFs) apply. Athletes are free to wear a hijab, veil and headscarf in the Olympic Village and in Olympic venues." That said, "during competitions, the technical rules set by the relevant IFs apply. In some sports, restrictions on attire, including but not limited to the hijab, veil and headscarf, are in place for safety and technical reasons."

The IOC also went on to reiterate that while the Olympic Charter states has language establishing the rights and freedoms for participants in the Games to compete "without discrimination of any kind," including religion, in France elite athletes competing for French national teams are considered civil servants. "This means that they must respect the principles of secularism and neutrality, which, according to French law, means prohibition from wearing outwardly religious symbols, including the hijab, veil and headscarf when they are acting in their official capacity and on official occasions as members of the French national team. The same secular approach also applies, for instance, to civil servants and teachers," the IOC statement reads.

Muhammad argues, however, that there should still be more protection in place. "I just think that there needs to be laws in place that ensure that future Olympic host countries are upholding the fundamental principles of the Olympics," she says. For her, that means all athletes, including Muslim women, should be allowed to compete without discrimination or impositions on their religious beliefs and practices.

The IOC says that it did reach out to the National Olympic Committee of France in order to understand if any athletes would be impacted by the ban with regard to the Olympic Games Paris 2024. "After further consultation, it appears that the only case concerning an athlete qualified for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 has been resolved to the satisfaction of everyone," per the IOC statement.

But as Muhammad states, this decision doesn't just impact today's athletes, but future ones too. Ultimately, she says the ban is "a gross violation of our human rights as women, as Muslims, our religious freedom — and I think that it's discriminatory. I hope that we as a global community stand up for Muslim women in this moment."

Alexis Jones is the senior health and fitness editor at PS. Her passions and areas of expertise include women's health and fitness, mental health, racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, and chronic conditions. Prior to joining PS, she was the senior editor at Health magazine. Her other bylines can be found at Women's Health, Prevention, Marie Claire, and more.