Team Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan ignited global praise after accepting her gold medal at the final 2024 Paris Olympic Games ceremony on Sunday (August 11). Sifan delivered an incredible burst in the final 250 meters of the women’s marathon, securing gold with an Olympic record time of 2:22:55. More so, the Olympian was particularly admired for choosing to wear a hijab during the ceremony amid France’s controversial bans.

Taking to her Instagram page on Sunday, Sifan shared a carousel of photographs showcasing the moment she was awarded an Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games closing ceremony.

The 31-year-old stood on the podium alongside team Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, who took silver, and team Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, who claimed bronze.

In addition to her sports achievements, many took notice of Sifan’s choice to wear a hijab — a headscarf worn by some Muslim women to cover their hair and neck as a sign of modesty and religious observance — an alternative decision from what she wore while competing.

Team Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan ignited global praise after accepting her gold medal at the final 2024 Paris Olympic Games 

Image credits: Photo Agency/Getty

An Instagram user commented: “The last medalist of Paris 2024 is a woman who chooses to wear hijab.

“The irony of that being in a host country that bans hijab in sport is incredible.”

A person wrote: “How ironic! A slap in the face of xenophobic France, which prevented its own athletes from participating because of their hijabs. 

“And there stands Sifan proudly receiving her gold medal while wearing her hijab. FANTASTIC!” 

“SUCH A STATEMENT WEARING HIJAB THANK YOU SISTER,” a netizen added.

 

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Someone else shared: “It’s so fitting that you would get the honor of getting the last medal ceremony! 

“What a special moment for the most amazing feat in athletics!”

A separate individual chimed in: “The message that you displayed is absolutely amazing! 

“Thank you for all the French hijabi athletes that didn’t get the chance to compete because of french islamophobia!”

Last September, French Minister of Sports Amelie Oudea-Castera announced that athletes representing France at the Paris Games would not be allowed to wear the hijab in line with the country’s secularism principle and rules against displaying religious symbols at sporting events, The Express reported on Sunday.

She wore a hijab at the closing ceremony on Sunday (August 11)

Image credits: Jamie Squire/Getty

The French Sports Ministry reportedly later clarified that athletes were allowed to wear hijabs in public and at the Olympic Village, though they couldn’t don the headwear during competitions.

The rule was swiftly met with a strong wave of backlash, as The Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation argued: “This ban contradicts the principles of equality, inclusivity, and respect for cultural diversity that the Olympics stand for.”

Amnesty International labeled the Hijab ban as “discriminatory” and “hypocritical,” ITVX reported last month.

The human rights organization reportedly highlighted how banning the hijab was particularly jarring considering the 2024 Olympics was labeled as the first gender-equal Olympics — yet Muslim women were being discriminated against and singled out.

 

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Nevertheless, athletes from other countries were allowed to wear the hijab, as the International Olympic Committee left the decision to individual sports federations. 

This is why some athletes, including Sifan and Team Australia’s boxer Tina Rahimi, were seen wearing the hijab during the Games.

French law maintains strict secularism, and the issue of religious dress goes to the heart of that, DW reported in 2023.

These laws are intended to keep the state neutral in religious matters while guaranteeing citizens the right to freely practice their religion in private, the German outlet explained. 

Sifan delivered an incredible burst in the final 250 meters of the women’s marathon

 

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A post shared by Sifan Hassan (@sifanhassan)

They prohibit wearing religious symbols in some contexts, such as in state schools and by civil servants. They also outlawed full-face coverings in 2010.

Last year, France also saw a ban on the abaya (a loose-fitting dress often worn by Muslim women) in schools.

In June 2023, the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) affirmed a law banning the hijab in football after a pressure group called Les Hijabeuses and the Human Rights League filed for it to be overturned.

The Council of State supported the French Football Federation’s ban and stated that it “is appropriate and proportionate.”

 

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Les Hijabeuses called the decision “shocking,” adding that it legitimized “violence against women, against Islam, which exists in French society” by excluding those women, as per DW.

The United Nations Human Rights Office spoke out against the French law’s discriminatory effects against women at the time.

“No one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear,” the organization’s spokeswoman, Marta Hurtado, said last year.

She reportedly stressed that the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ruled out discriminatory practices.

Sifan secured gold with an Olympic record time of 2:22:55

Image credits: sifanhassan

“Any state party to the convention, in this case, France, has an obligation to … modify social or cultural patterns which are based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either sex,” Marta said. 

“Discriminatory practices against a group can have harmful consequences,” she pointed out.

At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games women’s marathon event on Sunday, the Ethiopian runner Tigst snagged silver just three seconds behind Sifan, while the Kenyan athlete Hellen rounded out the podium with a bronze finish in 2:23:10, The Express reported.

Sifan’s remarkable achievement gained even greater significance given that she also captured bronze in both the 5,000m and 10,000m events in Paris, as per The Express.

Image credits: sifanhassan

The Dutch sportswoman became the first competitor since Czech runner Emil Zatopek in 1952 to gain medals in all these long-distance disciplines within the same edition of the Olympic Games. 

“I feel like I am dreaming,” Sifan reportedly said post-race. “At the end, I thought, ‘This is just a 100m sprint. Come on, Sifan. One more. Just feel it, like someone who sprints 200m.'”

More than a decade ago, Sifan – who was a young asylum seeker from Ethiopia at the time – embarked on a journey that would lead to history at the Tokyo Olympics with two golds and a marathon championship in Paris, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.

“We immediately saw she was a talented athlete. Even a blind horse could see she would be a good runner,” Ad Peeters, president of the Eindhoven Atletiek coaching team, said.

More than a decade ago, Sifan was a young asylum seeker from Ethiopia

Image credits: sifanhassan

Born in Adama, southeast of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Sifan was raised on a farm by her mother and grandmother. Aged 15, she left for the Netherlands. She has never explained why, as per Al Jazeera.

She was reportedly first housed in a center for underaged asylum seekers in Zuidlaren in the northern Netherlands.

The Olympian previously told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that she cried there every day, saying: “I was like a flower that got no sun.”

Sifan finally arrived in Eindhoven to do a nursing course and fell in with other Ethiopians, some of whom were members of the local athletics club, according to Al Jazeera.

“What a force she is,” a reader commented

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