Olympic Games: Hijab banned for French athletes. Outrage from Tina Rahimi, Australia's first veiled boxer

Olympic Games: Hijab banned for French athletes. Outrage from Tina Rahimi, Australia’s first veiled boxer

While she is only a glove’s throw away from her Olympic dream, to which she clung by sending the toughest of her opponents and prejudices to the mat, Tina Rahimi, the Australian boxing champion, made a sensational arrival in Paris, immediately hitting where it hurts: the sectarian, repressive and freedom-killing secularism of the French style.

Happy and proud to write her name in the history of sport, as the first Muslim and veiled female boxer to represent Australia at the 2024 Olympic Games, this 28-year-old born fighter, who has distinguished herself for several years in the featherweight category, has not yet entered the ring and has already unleashed a powerful uppercut…

She dared to criticize the uncritical ban on wearing the hijab imposed on French athletes, and only on them, at the risk of attracting the wrath of the fierce defenders of a secularism that no one envies us, the fervent supporters of republican intolerance, fundamentally Islamophobic.

Armed with a mind of tempered steel and in love with justice, it would take much more for Tina Rahimi to destabilize her than the endless cries of outrage from our dominant doxa, especially since this ban on the hijab, which deeply shocks her, contravenes the rule in force: in fact, In major international competitions, female boxers are now allowed to fight veiled and wearing covering clothing, respecting Muslim modesty.

Women have the right to choose how they want to dress ” she said after writing it in a few well-felt lines on Instagram, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. ” With or without hijab. I chose to wear the hijab as part of my religion and I am proud of it. ” she stressed forcefully.

You shouldn’t have to choose between your beliefs, between your religion and your sport. That’s what French athletes are forced to do. It doesn’t matter how you look or dress, your ethnicity or your religion. We all come together to achieve this dream. To compete and win. No one should be excluded. Discrimination is not welcome in sport, especially the Olympics and what it represents. “, this outstanding fighter was indignant, victorious at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and reigning Pacific Games champion.

It is worth noting that in June, a coalition of groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International wrote to the International Olympic Committee to severely condemn this ban, which has strong overtones of an emergency law, and to request the IOC’s intervention. Alas, to no avail.

The bans imposed by the French sports authorities are discriminatory and prevent Muslim athletes who decide to wear the hijab from exercising their fundamental right to practice sport without discrimination of any kind,” could be read in the disapproving missive. “These bans also go against the human rights requirements of host countries and the IOC Human Rights Policy Framework, and are contrary to the fundamental principles of Olympism.. »

As a crucial Friday approaches, where she will take her first steps in a prestigious ring, Tina Rahimi has two goals in mind: to win gold, but also ” to show that everything is possible, if you fight for it »There is no doubt that Australia’s first veiled female boxer, who fights with courage and panache on all terrains, will provide a brilliant demonstration of this.