FENCER SEES HIJAB AS SYMBOLIC
USA’s Muhammad hopes inclusion sends message
The easy thing for most athletes who spend four years striving for a spot in the Olympics would have been to run from the inevitable attention that came with being the first Team USA member to wear a hijab covering her head, to focus singularly on the competition rather than the cultural and social impact her presence in fencing could make.
But for Ibtihaj Muhammad, it wouldn’t have been the right thing.
“A lot of people don’t believe that Muslim women have voices or that we participate in sport,” Muhammad said Monday, moments after she was eliminated from the sabre competition in the Round of 16. “And it’s not just to challenge misconceptions outside the Muslim community but within the Muslim community. I want to break cultural norms.”
She’ll leave Rio without a medal in the individual competition; the team event is pending. But it would be inaccurate to say she did not make an impact at the Games. That was obvious by the huge throng of American media members who showed up to watch her 15-12 loss to France’s Cecilia Berder after she won her opener.
Particularly in this year, when the Muslim-American community has become part of the divisive rhetoric in the presidential cam- paign, Muhammad’s presence felt like something more significant. And at every turn, she embraced the attention that came with it.
“At the end of the day, I feel like it’s me in sport and representing my country and my community. I feel like it’s bigger than myself,” she said. “I’m thankful to God for the experience and allowing me to even be present in this moment.
“It’s hard to even put it into words. I feel like the things that are meant for me will never miss me. And failing to win that last match, it wasn’t in my cards. But I don’t feel like any part of this journey has been a burden. It’s a blessing to represent so many people who don’t have voices, who don’t speak up, and it’s been a really remarkable experience for me.”
A medal would have made it an even bigger platform for Muhammad. She might still get one, as the U.S. sabre team is ranked second in the world behind the Russians.
But her first Olympic experience gave her profound moments, from the adrenaline rush of competing in front of more fans than ever before to meeting members of the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti teams who also wear hijabs.
“People ask me what does it feel like to be an Olympian? I was like, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never been,’ ” she said. “Up until that moment, walking hand in hand with my teammates at opening ceremonies, that was the moment I was like, ‘Man this is real. You actually did it.’ You guys see medals and happy moments we post on Insta- gram, but there are so many moments of crying and injuries and missing your family; those are the moments we experience over four years. So to qualify for this team and just walk in at opening ceremonies, all these emotions, it’s almost overwhelming.”
So was the attention for family members, who were beaming after her first-round win Monday. Her father, Shamsiddin Muhammad, a retired narcotics detective, said she had won a gold medal in his mind and not just for making the Olympics but for trying to open people’s eyes to her faith.
“We talk like that as a family,” he said. “Each one of us has a destiny of what we’re supposed to do in life. We let her go out like that, we raised her properly to say she’s going to do the right things, say the right things and support the right people. Her followers are very diverse, from Jewish to Italian to French to African-American. You name it, she has that kind of support.”
And she has a following that could lead to interesting places, including perhaps the political arena. In a Time interview this year, she called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “ignorant” for a proposed ban on Muslims entering the USA, saying he “represents everything we aren’t.” Asked Monday if she thought he watched her match, she said she didn’t know and didn’t seem to care. But she embraces the power of a smart, successful Muslim woman competing at the highest level in athletics.
“It’s not just any team; it’s the United States,” she said. “It’s in light of what’s going on in our country, the political fuss we hear about, all these things I feel like kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA and just challenging those misconceptions people have about who the Muslim woman is.
“It’s almost like, ‘How can you not see that Muslims are like any other group?’ We’re conservatives and liberals. There’s women who cover and women who don’t. There are white Muslims, Arab Muslims, African-American Muslims. There are so many Muslim countries that have women as their heads of state, and there are those things I want people to be aware of and see that not just those women but Muslim women who participate in sport like the Saudi Arabian team, the Kuwaiti team, the American team now. Those are the images I want people to see.”