“That was a lovely experience to see women in hijab from all around the world be involved in sport and be present at this level of sport”, she says, calling that night in the stadium in Rio one of the best moments of her life.
Advertisement
Rather than focus on the fact that she was representing America as part of Team USA, Ms. Muhammad chose to distance herself from her fellow Americans.
Muhammad, ranked eighth in the world in sabre, beat Ukranian Olena Kravatska 15-13 in her first match before falling to France’s Cecilia Berder 15-12 in the round of 16. The fencer won her first round, then lost in a second round. And she embraced the spotlight, which helped make her an unlikely face of the US team given how little publicity fencing typically receives. “In a sport like fencing, you are your biggest opponent”, Muhammad says.
Suddenly a poster girl of sorts for a sport that has nearly no profile in North America – except, perhaps, in Quebec – Muhammad has not been shy about celebrating her faith.
She expressed hope that her performance as an athlete would “change the rhetoric around how people think and perceive the Muslim community”. I know that the Americans didn’t perform in the way that we wanted, but I love my team, I love my teammates and I believe in them.
Cheering on Muhammad in the stands were about 10 family members, including her parents and most of her siblings. Said her father, Eugene Muhammad, as the competition progressed: “She’s already gold to me”. This is a grand achievement. “Believe me, the ovation inside my heart – it lights me up like a bulb”.
Her older brother, Qareeb Muhammad, led “USA!”
And Annemiek van Vleuten, who sustained multiple spine fractures during the road race Sunday, tweeted she hopes to leave hospital Monday. “I’m so proud of my sister”.
Muhammad, 30, is a Duke graduate and now lives and trains in NY. At the time, she and her parents were searching for a sport Muhammad could play while being fully covered so she could adhere to the tenets of her faith.
She went to Duke in the mid-2000s, graduating in 2007 while fencing for three years and double-majoring in worldwide relations and African Studies and minoring in Arabic.
“She was just soaking in the moment”, he said.
Ibtihaj Muhammad, the fencer who happens to also be the first American-Muslim woman to compete in the Olympics while wearing a hijab, had strong words for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump about his immigration plans for Muslims. “Each one of us has a destiny of what we’re supposed to do in life”.
It was only four years ago that the International Volleyball Federation modified its rules to accommodate the religious and cultural requirements of societies where western bathing attire is considered unacceptable. It was ‘Oh my God, I did it.
To a chorus of journalists shouting Trump’s name over and over again she repeated her answer – “Who?” – to a crescendo of laughs.
And now she has a following that could take her to interesting places, including perhaps the political arena. Once there, though, she was her usual poised self as she spread her theme of inclusion.
Advertisement
This is a woman who had the opportunity to meet with President Obama and even offer the First Lady a fencing lesson.
