Hijab-wearing athlete on track to make U.S. Olympic history
This article is taken from CNN (2 Feb)(CNN) :She hasnโt earned an Olympic medal just yet, but fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad is already making history.
The 30-year-old Maplewood, New Jersey, native will be the first U.S. athlete to compete in the Olympic Games in a hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women to show modesty.
Itโs been quite a few days for Muhammad. Last week, she clenched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team during an event in Athens, Greece. And not to bury the lede, but President Barack Obama gave her a shout-out on Wednesday while delivering a speech at a mosque in Baltimore.
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Obama asked Muhammad to stand up for a round of applause and gave her some words of encouragement. โBring home the goldโฆ No pressure,โ he said.
The three-time All-American from Duke University was one of several Muslim community leaders who sat down with Obama for a roundtable discussion about the state of Islam and Islamophobia in the United States before his speech.
โItโs a struggle to be a Muslim woman right now. For all Muslims in our country,โ Muhammad told CNN. โWe are at an interesting crossroads I think. It could get bad here.โ Sheโs worried that if the negative rhetoric against Muslims doesnโt change there will be more situations such as the Chapel Hill shooting, where three Muslim students were gunned down allegedly by their neighbor in February 2015. Many American Muslims claim it was a hate crime.
Muhammad said she is honored to be representing not only her dreams, but the dreams of fellow Americans. She hopes she can be a role model for future athletes, especially Muslim Americans.
โThere are a lot of African-American athletes, but I canโt think of a female Muslim woman I can look to for inspiration as an athlete,โ she said. Growing up, Muhammadโs source of inspiration came from the Williams sisters and their confidence on the tennis courts.
Being an athlete wasnโt something that Muslim American parents always make a priority, she explained. โIn the Muslim community, there is a sense that you are always a doctor or lawyer,โ she said. The New Jersey resident started her sport when she was 13-years-old when her mother came across high school students were who fully covered, which followed Muhammadโs faith.
But when Muhammad first started off, she got the sense that fencing was generally a white-dominated sport. โBlack people didnโt fence, and Muslims didnโt either,โ she said. But she knew in her heart that she wanted to be a part of the U.S. fencing team when she was older.
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