Muhammad Abdallah Kounta

Muhammad Abdallah Kounta is a French Olympic sprinter who is currently suspended.

Running career

Kounta won the 2024 French Championships in the 400 meter run. He competed for France in the Athletics at the [2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay|men's 4 × 400 metres relay event] at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in which France was eliminated in its first heat, and the 2024 Paris Olympics in which Athletics at the [2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay|France came in last (ninth)] in the final.

In August 2024, Kounta was suspended by the President of the French Athletics Federation for publishing comments inciting hatred on social media, including inciting hatred against France, white people, Christians, and Jews, as well as support for the Islamist group Hamas. Among Kounta's posts, he expressed a desire to “kill Little White."
The Federation President also made a report to the Public Prosecutor, as well as to the Federation's Disciplinary Committee, which will consider banning him permanently. French Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said Kounta's posts were "as shocking as they are unacceptable." Île-de-France Regional Councilor Patrick Karam, the right-hand man of the President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France Valérie Pécresse, called for the "heaviest sanctions" to be levied against Kounta, including criminal prosecution and Kounta's permanent removal by the Federation's Disciplinary Committee. If prosecuted for inciting hatred, he could face one year in prison and a €45,000 fine.