An Egyptian Olympian today told of her pride after wearing long sleeves and a hijab as she faced Germany in a beach volleyball match.

Doaa Elghobashy and partner Nada Meawad made history by pairing up to form the north African country’s first ever Olympic beach volleyball team.

“I have been wearing the hijab for ten years. It doesn’t keep me away from the things I love to do,” said Ms Elghobashy, after losing 21-12, 21-15 to Germany on Copacabana beach.

“The international union of the game gave us the right to play with the hijab and I'm really happy for this.

“I’m proud to be seen raising the Egyptian flag in a carnival with so many nations,” she added.

The uniform regulations were changed to allow long pants and sleeves before London 2012, in order to avoid excluding cultures that might be turned off by wearing bikinis.

“It was to open it up culturally,” said International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) spokesman Richard Baker.

“The goal was to allow more women to play the sport of volleyball.”

There were 169 different countries involved in the qualifying process for the 2016 Olympics, compared to 143 for London.

Elsewhere, US fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad became her country’s first ever Olympian to compete in a hijab.

Muhammad, who beat Ukraine’s Olena Kravatska in her first bout but then lost her second, said she wanted to “break cultural norms”.

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Rafaela Silva was brought up in the favela and is the country's first world judo champion Markus Schreiber/AP 31/60 Colombia's Oscar Albeiro Figueroa Mosquera finishes off his career in style by taking off his shoes after winning the Men's 62kg Group A Weightlifting on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Pool/Getty Images 32/60 Daniel Goodfellow and Tom Daley in action during their Men's Synchronised diving event Jeremy Selwyn 33/60 Great Britain's Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow celebrate winning bronze in the Men's Diving Synchronised 10m Platform Final on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre Clive Rose/Getty Images 34/60 Jamaica's Usain Bolt interacts with samba dancers during a press conference of the Jamaican Olympic Association and PUMA in Barra during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Michael Kappeler/EPA 35/60 Louis Smith shows his dejection after falling while competing on the pommel horse Alex Livesey/Getty Images 36/60 Great Britain's Louis Smith competes on the pommel horse during the men's team final on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena Jeremy Selwyn 37/60 Egypt's Doaa Elghobashy sporting her hijab in action during a women's beach volleyball qualifying match against Germany Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images 38/60 Great Britain's players dejected after losing their rugby sevens bronze medal match at the Deodoro Stadium on the Day 3 of the Rio Olympic Games David Davies/PA 39/60 Great Britain's Johanna Konta plays a forehand during her Women's Singles second round win against France's Caroline Garcia on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games 40/60 United States Ibtihaj Muhammad is the first American athlete to compete wearing a traditional hijab during the Women's Individual Sabre on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Patrick Smith/Getty Images 41/60 Great Britain's Ed Ling celebrates a bronze following the Men's Trap Final at the Olympic Shooting Centre on Day 3 of the Rio Olympics Games, Brazil David Davies/PA 42/60 Team, GB's Adam Peaty wins 100m Breaststroke Gold in Rio Jeremy Selwyn 43/60 Great Britain's Jazz Carlin with her silver medal after the women's 400m freestyle final at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre on Day 2 of the Rio Olympics Games Owen Humphreys/PA 44/60 Andy Murray and Jamie Murray crash out of the mens doubles against Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa on Day 2 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Clive Brunskill/Getty Images 45/60 Team GB's Galal Yafai is eliminated on a split decision against reining World Champion Cuba's Joahnys Argilagos Perez in Boxing Preliminary Men's Light Fly (49kg) Round of 32 Bout 39 Peter Cziborra/Reuters 46/60 Team GB's Katherine Copeland and Charlotte Taylor dissapointed finishimg last in their Lightweight Women's Double Sculls heat. 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Ian Walton/Getty Images 3/60 German twins Anna and Lisa Hahner hold hands as they cross the finish line in the marathon Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images 4/60 Strike a pose... 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They have another chance in the repcage Matthias Hangst/Getty Images 47/60 Great Britain's Abbie Brown scores a try during their win in the Women's Quarter-Final match vs Fiji at the Deodoro Stadium on the Day 2 of the Rio Olympic Games David Davies/PA 48/60 Michael Phelps (L) and Caeleb Dressel of USA celebrate their team's victory in the men's 4x100m Freestyle relay final race of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Swimming events at Olympic Aquatics Stadium at the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dave Hunt/EPA 49/60 Team GB's Elizabeth Armitstead arrives in the finish area after finishing 5th in the Women's road cycling race at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Grag Baker/AFP/Getty Images 50/60 Brazil's Gabriel Jesus in an aeriel battle during their men's soccer match against Iraq at Mane Garrincha Stadium during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brasilia, Brazil. Iraq held the host nation to a 0-0 draw. Celso Junior/Getty Images 51/60 Nepal's Gaurika Singh competes in the Women's 100m Backstroke heat on Day 2 of Rio 2016. Guurika is the youngest Olympics' competitor and Nepal Earthquake survivor 52/60 Serbia's Novak Djokovic sheds a tear after losing his match against Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Toby Melville/Reuters 53/60 Juan Martin Del Potro defeats Novak Djokovic in their singles match on Day 2 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Clive Brunskill/Getty Images 54/60 China's Long Qingquan lifts170kg during the men's 56kg weightlifting event at the Rio 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images 55/60 Team GB's Joshua Buatsi (left) gains the first technical knockout against Uganda's Kennedy Katende in their men's light heavyweight 81-kg preliminary boxing match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Frank Franklin II/AP 56/60 France's Samir Ait Said is stretchered off after being injured while competing in the qualifying for the men's vault event of the Artistic Gymnastic Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images 57/60 Serena and Venus Williams leave after losing their match against Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova Toby Melville 58/60 Team GB's Christopher Froome (left) races during the Men's Road cycling race in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images 59/60 South Korea 's Olympic Gymnast Lee Eun-Ju (takes a selfie picture with North Korea's Hong Un Jong (PRK) durign training in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dylan Martinez/teuters 60/60 Fireworks explode during the opening ceremony at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dylan Martinez/Reuters

"A lot of people believe that Muslim women don't have voices or that we (don't) participate in sport. And it's not just to challenge the misconceptions outside the Muslim community, but also within the Muslim community," she said.