PARIS: French sprinter Muhammad Abdallah Kounta, who competed for France at the Paris Olympics, was suspended by the national federation on Wednesday for publishing comments inciting hatred on social media.

French Minister of Sports Amelie Oudea-Castera said on X that the French athletics federation (FFA) president “confirmed to me that he had suspended the athlete, contacted the public prosecutor as well as the disciplinary commission of the federation”.

She described Kounta’s messages and posts targeting Israel in particular “as shocking as they are unacceptable”.

The messages have since been deleted.

After deactivating his X account, Kounta reactivated it to post an apology where he introduced himself as “French, Muslim and proud”.

“People had fun digging through my tweets and taking some of my comments out of context, portraying me as anti-white, anti-France, anti-Semitic, and so on,” said the 29-year-old who ran in the men’s and mixed 4x400m relays at the 2024 Olympics.

“I sincerely apologise if anyone felt offended. I am against genocides and any form of racism or injustice, and I don’t think I need to prove how much I love my country,” he said.

Contacted by AFP, the FFA did not comment specifically on the Kounta case but on “statements by several athletes from the French team on the occasion of the Olympic Games”, also in reference to messages of a homophobic nature published 10 years ago by middle-distance runner Hugo Hay, who also participated in the Paris Games.

“The federation reminds all athletes of the French team that the expression of their personal opinions must in no way jeopardise the unity of French athletics and the French team, and must respect republican values,” the FFA said.

“It condemns the fact that athletes take the Olympic celebration as an opportunity to expose their personal ideas, some of which constitute an offence,” it continued.

“This is why the president of the federation has systematically contacted the competent authorities, in order to shed light on all of these facts, and will continue to do so in the future.”

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2024