GB’s 1st Black woman swimmer fights Olympic natural hair cap decision

by Hannah Joy via https://news.yahoo.com/

Hannah JoyWed, July 7, 2021, 2:39 AM·4 min readIn this article:

• Alice DearingBritish swimmer

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“People used to tell me my hair was ‘too big’ for the cap – never that the cap was too small for my hair,” Alice Dearing wrote.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) is considering reversing their decision to deny certification for swimming caps designed for natural Black hair following backlash.

This comes after a Soul Cap swimming cap worn by 24-year-old Alice Dearing, who recently became the first Black female swimmer to represent Great Britain at the Olympics, was rejected by FINA, according to The Times.

Dearing recently spoke about the decision on Sky Sports News, saying, “The issue with this story is I don’t want little Black girls and little Black boys to look at elite swimming and think it is not open to them because that is completely the wrong idea. It is open to them, I really hope that with it being under review that some agreement will come about, I’m sure it will.”

She continued, “I don’t want people to look at elite level swimming and think: ‘It’s not open for me, I can’t wear my hair the way I want to and I’ll go and find another sport’, because that’s not what we want. Change is happening at…

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