‘Simply because of my religious…’ Star player speaks out after getting axe from France Olympics team

During the NCAA college basketball, Diaba Konate was awarded the best defensive Player of the Year in 2023/24. While playing for the University of California she had an average of 7.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Born and raised in Paris, Konate boasts a great free-throw percentage, where she often gets caught stealing. In this year's NCAA Women's March Madness tournament, she became a ‘breakout star’ for basketball fans.

In 2017, a global ban on headscarves worn by certain Muslim women was reversed by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), an organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that oversees the sport globally. The domestic equivalent of that organisation in France, the French Federation of Basketball (FFBB), has chosen to implement the nation's secularism laws, which forbid wearing religiously affiliated symbols or apparel in public schools and other state-affiliated institutions.

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On this, Konate said, "It's very frustrating to be excluded from representing my country or just being able to play basketball simply because of my religious identity as a Muslim woman who chooses to wear hijab," as reported by USA Today Sports.

In order to reverse France's prohibition on the headscarf, Bâ is one of the co-founders of Basket Pour Toutes, or Basketball for All, has been pleading with the International Olympic Committee and International Basketball Federation for assistance. In June, the IOC President Thomas Bach received letters from 11 rights groups pleading with him to take action on this matter.

To be honest, I'm not sure whether I'm good enough - Diaba Konate

Konaté said that it wasn't certain that she would be chosen for France's Olympic basketball squad. She did, however, note that she competed for the French under-18 national team before to the implementation of the hijab ban, winning two silver and one gold medal. “To be honest, I'm not sure whether I'm good enough. I'll never know how to respond to it. I've never had the chance to join the squad in reality,” Konate further added.