The International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced Friday that it reversed its ban on a swimming cap designed specifically for Black competitors, approving a model manufactured by Soul Cap for international events.
FINA dropped its opposition a year after critics of the policy called it culturally insensitive and an unnecessary barrier to the sport, The New York Times reported.
The cap was added to the approved swimwear list on Sept. 1, according to the newspaper.
Brent Nowicki, FINA’s executive director, told The Washington Post in an email that officials worked with Soul Cap over the past year on the product’s design and that he was “delighted” it had won approval.
“Promoting diversity and inclusivity is at the heart of FINA’s work, and it is very important that all aquatic athletes have access to the appropriate swimwear,” Nowicki told the newspaper.
Soul Cap is a covering made specifically to protect hair that is thick, curly, braided or otherwise textured -- which is often difficult to fit into smaller swim caps, NPR reported.
Officials with British-based Soul Cap, who developed the product in 2017, described FINA’s approval as “a huge step in the right direction.”
“We’re excited to see the future of a sport that’s becoming more inclusive,” the company said in a blog post.
The Soul Cap was invented in Britain by Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen, according to the Times. While taking an adult swim class, the two noticed that Black swimmers would have benefited from a swim cap designed with extra room at the crown to larger, more natural hairstyles.
According to The Associated Press, the caps were barred by FINA in July 2021 on the grounds that to their “best knowledge, the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration.”
FINA described the swim caps as unsuitable because they did not follow “the natural form of the head.”
FINA’s reversal “sets a precedent for the sport” according to swimmer Alice Dearing, the first black woman to represent Great Britain in an Olympic swimming event.
“Giving swimmers the option is what this is all about. Self-expression & love,” Dearing wrote in an Instagram post.
In an essay for The Guardian, Dearing wrote that she was “relieved and excited” by the news.
“As a black woman and professional swimmer who loves both having her hair braided and wearing it in its natural, afro form, I know just how seismic this change will be,” Dearing wrote in her essay, titled “Finally, there is no ‘wrong’ hair for swimming.”
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