ALICE DEARING

After banning it ahead of last year's Summer Olympics, swimming's international governing body has approved a swim cap designed for Black hair.

A cap designed for Black swimmers’ natural hair that was banned from the Tokyo Olympics has been approved for competitive races.

Coming into the Olympics, Alice Dearing made a huge impact in the debate over ways to make swimming a more diverse sport.

Simone Biles will at last return to Olympic competition Tuesday on Day 11 of the Tokyo Games.

Alice Dearing is the first Black female swimmer to make Britain's Olympic team, but the ambassador for a bathing cap for natural hair won't be able to use the covering in competition.

The International Swimming Federation said it would reconsider its decision barring the cap from being used in competition, following criticism that the ruling discriminated against Black swimmers.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) said that swimming caps designed for natural Black hair have been banned from use in this summer's Tokyo Olympics, BBC News reports.Driving the news: Soul Cap, the British Black-owned company that made the caps, told BBC that FINA argued the hats do not "fit the natural form of the head" and that to their "best knowledge the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration."Stay on

Swimming caps designed for natural Black hair won’t be allowed at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, with the sport’s world governing body saying they are unsuitable due to them not “following the natural form of the head.” The British brand Soul Cap sought to have its products officially recognized by FINA, but its application submitted last year was rejected. The company makes extra-large caps designed to protect thick, curly, and voluminous hair.

The International Swimming Federation said the caps do not follow "the natural form of the head," according to the company.