One of the USA’s Olympic team has made the news recently, due to being the first U.S. athlete to compete in a hijab. She then became the first American woman to earn a medal at the Olympics while wearing a hijab when her team took home the bronze.
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The fencer was the first American athlete to compete in the Olympics while wearing a hijab.
In addition to Muhammad, the USA Women’s Saber team consists of Mariel Zagunis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who is now ranked No. 1 in the US and No. 4 in the world, and Dagmara Wozniak. “This is the America that I know and I love”.
Ibtihaj Muhammad of Maplewood will be bringing home a bronze medal from the Rio Olympics as a member of the USA Women’s Saber team.
‘We’re showing minority youth out there, we’re showing Americans that this is one of the handsome things about our country’.
“Because she wears the hijab, she ended up getting all this notoriety to the point that TIME Magazine was writing editorials that said, ‘No, not the most decorated medalist in American history, Michael Phelps, should be waving the flag; no, it should be her, ‘ which I find nearly insulting”.
Muhammad didn’t just go to Rio to win a medal.
‘This is sport. It doesn’t matter what hair color you have, or what religion you are. She said she went for all the young, American athletes.
The attention for the team event was much more focused simply on fencing – and Muhammad reminded folks why she made the Olympic team in the first place.
“This has been a long journey for us”.
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“We’ve worked so hard for this, and to be able to compete at the level that we’ve worked towards, on the world’s biggest stage at the Olympic Games, is truly a blessing for us”. “I’ll never forget this moment”, said Ibtihaj. Most of the controversial Tweets seem to come from July and August of 2014, before she was officially in contention for an Olympic slot.
