Ibtihaj Muhammad has used her profile as an Olympian to try to change misconceptions others might have about Muslim-Americans.
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“I think his words are very risky”, Muhammad, who is competing in team sabre competition Monday morning, told CNN last week.
Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first US Olympian to compete in a hijab, won her opening bout on Monday.
“I wish that, not just my life, but the lives of Muslims all over the world were a little bit easier, particularly in the United States”. She was a Junior Olympic Champion in 2005, got a fencing scholarship to Duke, and is now ranked No. 2 on USA Fencing’s national team and No. 8 in the world.
As far as the piste goes, Muhammad might just be peaking at the right time.
Muhammad, 30, is a Duke graduate and one of Time magazine’s Most Influential People of 2016.
She’s ranked No. 8 in the world with a saber.
Here’s to hoping she becomes the first hijab-wearing Olympic gold medalist this weekend.
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“I’m hopeful that, in my efforts to represent our country well as an athlete? that they change the rhetoric around how people think and perceive the Muslim community”, she told CNN. She has watched the USA presidential race with trepidation, anxious that “fear-mongering” about Muslims is setting a perilous precedent. Instead, this is her worst finish at the Olympics. “In this particular political climate in the history of this country, it is groundbreaking to have a Muslim woman on the USA team”, said the athlete in a recent interview. “When I hear people here say they want to throw all Muslims back to their country, I think: well, where am I going to go?” This is my home.
