Not only did she make history in that regard but she seems to be unstoppable in competition.
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“I think his words are very risky”, Muhammad told CNN last week.
“I am excited to challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions people have about Muslim women“.
Muhammad, a three-time NCAA All-American at Duke, has had a slow but steady rise to the top of the sabre community.
Muhammad qualified for Rio by winning bronze at an Olympic qualifier in Athens last month.
She has enjoyed growing fame in the run-up to the Rio Games, and her corporate sponsors now include big names like Visa and United Airlines.
She is frequently confronted by anti-Muslim “trolls” on social media, whose messages she promptly deletes.
Here’s to hoping she becomes the first hijab-wearing Olympic gold medalist this weekend.
After fencing, Muhammad says she may consider a career in USA diplomacy. She also runs a clothing line, Louella, with her brother and a sister. But Ibtihaj got her start at the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which, for 25 years, has been training young, mostly African American kids in how to fence. Muhammad is a sabre fencer and lives in New Jersey.
Before she competed, Muhammad, 30, made some news at a time when Muslim Americans have been in the political crosshairs of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Muhammad subsequently became one of the biggest faces of the US team, appearing on talk shows all over the country while garnering attention not often showered on fencers.
