Why the Ruling Against Swim Caps for Afro Hair at the Olympics Is a Step Backward for Sports

On Wednesday of last week, Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed, the founders of Soul Cap—a British specialist brand producing swimming caps for Afro hair—received a response to their application to FINA, the water-sports world governing body, for their caps to be worn at the upcoming 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Citing the fact that they do not follow “the natural form of the head” and that no athletes need “caps of such size,” their application was abruptly denied. This news came just over a week after the announcement that British swimmer and cofounder of the Black Swimming Association, Alice Dearing, had qualified to become the first Black female swimmer to compete on Team Great Britain this year, and it served as a global wake-up call on just how much progress there is still to be made for greater inclusivity in the world of aquatic sports.

“Initially we just thought it was an oversight, and the application wasn’t properly considered,” Ahmed tells Vogue. “We immediately reached out to enquire about the appeals process so we could have a conversation with them and engage in a dialogue to get it approved. The big blow was that, even though they had received and reviewed samples, we were told we weren’t eligible for the appeals process as our application was ‘not considered for approval.’”

“We had done a lot of research on the approval process and had thoroughly looked at all the criteria and requirements,” Ahmed continues. “Our cap is the same shape as standard swim caps. It’s just simply larger to accommodate long, voluminous, or textured hair.” (In a statement released on Friday, FINA added that it was “currently reviewing the situation” following widespread backlash.)

Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed, the founders of Soul Cap.
Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed, the founders of Soul Cap.
Photo: Luke Hutson-Flynn

The origins of Soul Cap lie in Chapman and Ahmed’s decision to begin taking swimming lessons together as adults in 2017; they had grown up feeling discouraged from participating due to the lack of Black representation within the sport. After encountering a Black woman with Afro hair at their local pool who was struggling with the size of her swim cap, the pair began talking to their moms, sisters, and friends, all of whom had accounts of struggling with the constraints of wearing swimming caps designed for white hair. “The decision is an extension of these cultural barriers,” says Chapman. “It’s another barrier which predominantly impacts Black people and predominantly women with longer or thicker hair.” After launching Soul Cap that same year—describing the brand as “hair care for the volume blessed”—the pair has since shipped more than 30,000 caps and partnered with a number of charitable foundations working to broaden access to aquatic sports. Soul Cap is now worn by competitive Black swimmers the world over.

It’s the personal element that made the decision feel so discouraging for those working in the U.S. too. Aydon Gabourel, founder of the Rockaway Beach–based nonprofit initiative Laru Beya—which works to increase access to swimming and surfing for local youth and communities traditionally underrepresented in aquatic sports—notes his initial response as one of grim acceptance. “Honestly, I’d like to say that I was shocked or surprised [by the FINA decision], but doing this for as long as I’ve been doing this, I can’t say that I am,” says Gabourel. “It’s not a surprise, but it’s so tone-deaf and a huge disappointment.”

The statement took Gabourel straight back to the initial experiences with his daughter that inspired him to launch Laru Beya. “When my daughter first started to swim, here at the local YMCA, we had the same issue,” he continues. “We showed up to the first session, and we were told that you couldn’t enter the pool without a swim cap, so we said, Okay, that’s fine. But then we couldn’t find a swim cap that fit her, so we had to cancel. My daughter has natural hair, and when the water hits it, it expands like five times over, so the cap wouldn’t stay on. Luckily, we were able to find something similar to Soul Cap online, but then she showed interest in joining a local swim team, and part of the uniform was having consistent headgear, so she stopped.”

The decision resonated in a similar way with Thurman and Torrence Thomas, the twin brothers behind Tankproof. A nonprofit providing swim instruction to underserved communities across Baton Rouge, Austin, and San Francisco, Tankproof also works in close partnership with Soul Cap. “In the decade that we’ve been doing this, one of the biggest barriers we’ve seen for Black girls is that they don’t want to get their hair wet, whether that’s due to the chlorine drying out their hair or the time it takes to get their hair back to its natural state,” says Thurman Thomas. “It’s a direct solution to the problem that so many generations of women for years have experienced. It’s something that’s essential for these young women to encourage them to want to learn the sport and to enter the space of aquatics.”

Team Great Britain swimmer and 2021 Olympics competitor Alice Dearing in a promotional image for Soul Cap.
Team Great Britain swimmer and 2021 Olympics competitor Alice Dearing in a promotional image for Soul Cap.
Photo: Luke Hutson-Flynn

“It doesn’t give you an unfair advantage,” Torrence Thomas continues. “It doesn’t make you faster, it doesn’t make you more streamlined. So the reasons they presented for making the decision don’t make any sense. It’s just not logical.”

As the Thomas brothers note, it’s an issue that can be traced back through many decades—even centuries—of racial discrimination. In Jeff Wiltse’s 2007 social history covering the birth and evolution of municipal pools in America, Contested Waters, his research into segregated swimming pools spotlights the various ways in which access to water was used as a means of controlling and disenfranchising Black communities, a legacy that has ultimately become deadly. In a study released last year by sociologists Alena and James Gadberry for the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, the pair noted that this “systematic exclusion from public pools” has resulted in Black youth being 2.6 times more likely to die from drowning. As Thurman Thomas succinctly puts it: “Swimming is a life skill—it’s the only sport that can save your life.”

“This is how systemic racism works,” says Taj Omari, swim coach and founder of Empowered Swimming, an organization providing swim scholarships to marginalized communities in Atlanta. “It’s subtle and microaggressive. It is virtually unnoticeable by white people because the system either benefits or doesn’t affect them, but as a swimmer whose natural hair simply does not fit in standard swim caps, it is a slap in the face.”

The language used in FINA’s statement is a particular cause for concern. As Gabourel points out, the description of “the natural form of the head” carries chilling echoes of the eugenics movement and scientific racism used to justify slavery and racial segregation that carries through from the 19th century all the way to the civil-rights era and still exists among neo-Nazi factions today. “When you say elite athletes, what does that mean? They should just say elite white athletes, as that’s what they really mean,” says Gabourel. The ban on Soul Cap feeds into the self-perpetuating cycle of minority exclusion in swimming. When FINA states that “athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration,” they not only confirm the historic lack of Black athletes invited to compete at the highest levels of the sport but also exclude a new generation of potential swimmers from participating.

The ruling also speaks to the fact that while the world of aquatic sports may be making tentative steps toward greater diversity in terms of athletes, there are systemic changes that need to be made at all levels. “It starts from the top down, with the governing bodies who make these decisions,” says Torrence Thomas, of Tankproof. “It has to start with the individuals internally because if it doesn’t start there, sadly, there’s not much we can do about it. FINA is the one that’s going to have to say, We’re going to support these initiatives. It’s not a difficult solution. Just let them wear these caps.” The representatives of these various nonprofits agree that if there had been a Black person in that FINA boardroom, the outcome might have been very different. “This is not a mistake or a slipup,” Gabourel continues. “And when is it going to change? Will it ever change? But the fight goes on, and I’ll do what I can and in the hope that the next generation can do a better job than mine.”

Despite the various setbacks that have come as a result of FINA’s decision, both the Soul Cap founders and the figures behind these aquatic empowerment initiatives are doing their best to remain hopeful. “We feel so positive and super appreciative of the support we’ve had from all over the world,” says Chapman. “We’re so thankful for the solidarity shown from big brands and athletes to swimmers and the public. We’re confident that opening this conversation has given people a different point of view, and we’re hopeful for a good result.” With under three weeks until the Tokyo Olympics kick off this year, there’s still time for FINA to make the right decision. The world, it’s safe to say, will be closely watching.

Originally Appeared on Vogue