Basketball player Diaba Konate also told BBC Sport that her heart “was broken” by the ban, adding: “It’s very hypocritical for France to call itself the country of freedom, of human rights, but at the same time not allowing Muslims or their citizens to show who they are.”

Amnesty International has said that the ban exposes “discriminatory double standards ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games” and “makes a mockery of claims that Paris 2024 is the first gender-equal Olympics”.

French athletes will be banned from wearing hijabs ahead of the Paris Olympics