“I want to play in my hijab, she wants to play in a bikini" - Egyptian women’s beach volleyball team pans French hijab ban at Paris Olympics

By Janhavi Shinde

Modified Aug 04, 2024 09:18 GMT

Egyptian women’s beach volleyball team of Marwa Abdelhady and Doaa Elghobashy recently expressed their dissent at the ban of hijab on French athletes. Both Abdelhady and Elghobashy are currently representing their nation at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Egyptian duo locked horns with the Spanish team on August 1, 2024, during the Preliminary Phase. While the Spanish duo was sporting bikinis, the Egyptian athletes were clad in hijabs, black leggings, and t-shirts with long sleeves. In January 2022, the French senate banned the hijab along with other “ostensible religious symbols” in sports. In September 2023 the decision was applied to the French athletes competing at the Olympics.

In an interview with Expressen after their face-off with the Spanish team, the Egyptian women’s beach volleyball team player conveyed her dissent on the French hijab ban and spoke about respect for different cultures and their customs. She also stated that all athletes should be free to wear their choice of clothes.

“I want to play in my hijab, she wants to play in a bikini,” Elghobashy said. "“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 added.

Egypt lost the Group A Preliminary Phase match 21-18, 21-14 to Spain at the Paris Olympics 2024.

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“I did this, I achieved it. I deserved it" - Doaa Elghobashy on competing in her second Olympics for the Egyptian women’s beach volleyball team

Doaa El Ghobashy [R] during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Photo via Getty Images)

Doaa Elghobashy made her Olympic debut for the Egyptian women’s beach volleyball team at the 2016 Games, becoming the first Arab and Egyptian athlete to compete in women's beach volleyball at the Olympics. She was 19 at her debut Games. She was poised to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Games but was forced to stay away after a fellow competitor on the men’s beach volleyball team was affected by COVID.

In an interview with CNN, while speaking about the discussion on attire worn by athletes, she stated that an athlete should be known for their sporting prowess rather than what they wore while competing. She added that her hijab did not mean her achievement of representing Egypt at the Olympics could be taken away from her.

“At the end of the day, it’s a sport and I’m not a model. I’m an athlete and people should focus more on my athleticism rather than my clothes,” she said.

“Just because I’m a hijabi doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t have the opportunity to play at the Olympics,” she added. “I did this, I achieved it. I deserved it.”

While Elghobashy is competing in her second Olympics, Marwa Abdelhady is making her Olympic debut for the Egyptian women’s beach volleyball team in Paris.