Photo: Alice Dearing, British athlete who will compete at the Olympics, Soul Cap Ambassador & co-founder of the Black Swimming Association.

This week swimmers all over the world have been let down by a decision from the Olympic governing body to ban a swimming cap that caters to Afro and voluminous hair.

Soul Cap say their cap was rejected to be certified for use at competitions because they don’t follow “the natural form of the head”.

The decision also came just over a week after British swimmer and co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, Alice Dearing, qualified to become the first Black female swimmer to compete at the Olympics this summer.

Alice Dearing is also a Soul Cap Ambassador and has previously spoken about how hair issues can put off young people from getting involved in swimming:

“I vividly remember a black girl saying at training that the reason black girls don’t swim is because of their hair. I was about 12 or 13 at the time and had never thought of the idea of hair stopping you from swimming. Now that I am older I can fully understand why someone would quit over their hair.”

Shining a spotlight on discrimination

The SoulCap team researched the specifications before sending off their application, with the only difference being that the cap is slightly bigger to allow space for hair. Founder Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen explained:

“We had done a lot of research on the approval process and had thoroughly looked at all the criteria and requirements. Our cap is the same shape as standard swim caps, it’s just simply larger to accommodate long, voluminous, or textured hair.”

SoulCap’s founders Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen

What does this mean for young swimmers?

Firstly the news has served as a global wake-up call on just how much progress there is still to be achieved when it comes to inclusivity in water sports. Secondly, since the Olympic governing committee’s decision, a huge wave of backlash has spread over social, print and online media, which has resulted in the Olympic committee releasing a statement that they will re-consider their decision.

Putting a positive spin on the situation, Soul Cap’s founders recently released a statement on their Instagram, explaining how they hope that it will actually serve as a spotlight on the issues the minority swimmer face, and open up conversation:

“We hoped to further our work for diversity in swimming by having our swim caps certified for competition, so swimmers at any level don’t have to choose between the sport they love and their hair.

For younger swimmers, feeling included and seeing yourself in a sport at a young age is crucial. FINA’s recent dismissal could discourage many younger athletes from pursuing the sport as they progress through local, county and national competitive swimming.

We feel there’s always room for improvement, but there’s only so much grassroots and small brands can do – we need the top to be receptive to positive change.

A huge thanks to all who have supported us and our work so far. We don’t see this as a set back, but a chance to open up a dialogue to make a bigger difference.”

What can I do?

It remains to be seen whether the Olympic committee will approve the caps when they reconsider SoulCap’s application, however one positive aspect to come out of this situation is the power of raising our voices individually and collectively to incite change.

Let’s Do This! If you’d like to be part of the movement to get afro hair caps accepted by the Olympics, you can sign the petition online, and share this article to spread the word. We can do it together!