(Reuters) Days before the Paris Olympics began, French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla was stuck in a row with her government over the right to wear a hijab at the opening ceremony.
But after a last-gasp compromise was found — in the shape of a navy blue baseball cap hastily bought from a high street store — the 26-year-old sailed down the River Seine beaming with fellow athletes from the national team.
With French competitors bound by secularist laws that stop them donning the Islamic headscarf, rights advocates saw Sylla’s case as perpetuating discrimination against Muslims, though some saw it as authorities at least tempering their stance.
