The Egyptian women's beach volleyball team came up against Spain in a beach volleyball match at the Paris Olympics, with their attire choices becoming a bigger talking point on social media than their performances in the game. The match was scheduled as part of the last round of pool play, with the result key to determining the quarterfinal match-ups for the Olympic volleyball tournament. As pictures of the match were shared on social media, the contrast in the attires of the two teams became a big talking point, triggering debates over sportswear choices in beach volleyball.
While Spain have been terrific with their gameplay in the Paris Olympics, social media users found a lot more to talk about than the performances of their star duo Liliana Fernandez and Paula Soria Gutierrez.
As for the result, Spain defeated Egypt on Thursday in straight sets.
While the Spanish players wore bikinis, Egyptian beach volleyball players wore hijabs, long black-sleeved shirts, and black ankle-length leggings in a women's beach volleyball. If the Egyptian players were representing France, they would not have been allowed to wear hijabs.
the Egyptian women's beach volleyball team vs Spain at the Paris Olympics pic.twitter.com/V5pVtZMp8D
— juju (@ayeejuju) August 3, 2024
Egypt vs Spain's Women's Beach Volleyball! pic.twitter.com/JAB2WgGnUO
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) August 3, 2024
Egypt v. Spain women's beach volleyball match at the #Olympics
Perhaps something in between would be a good compromise? (See next tweet) pic.twitter.com/vbEsMZkwCd— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) August 3, 2024
Earlier, the members of Egypt's beach volleyball team spoke against France's hijab ban for athletes competing in Paris Olympics.
"I want to play in my hijab, she wants to play in a bikini," Expressen reported Egypt's Doaa Elghobashy as saying. "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 said.
Amnesty International and 10 other groups had written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in June asking for the ban to be overturned, saying that such a ruling causes Muslim athletes to be 'discriminated against'.