France has banned its athletes from wearing hijabs at next year's Olympic Games.
The country's sports minister announced the news during an interview with the French political programme Dimanche en Politique, as per Inside the Games.
Explaining the decision of the French government, Amelie Oudea-Castera said that having deliberated with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne officials were seeking 'absolute neutrality' at the Games in the country's capital.
'We have, thanks to a recent decision of the Council of State, expressed very clearly with the Prime Minister our attachment to a regime of strict secularism,' Oudéa-Castéra said.
'This means the prohibition of any form of proselytism, the absolute neutrality of public service.
'The representatives of our delegations in our French teams will not wear the veil.
'The International Olympic Committee, which governs these rules of participation, is following a logic which consists of understanding the wearing of the veil not as a religious factor but as a cultural factor,' Oudéa-Castéra added.
'It is based on the provisions of International Federations which are not all the same in this area. There will be heterogeneity between sports.'
France had already banned the wearing of hijab in schools.
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