SportsAsToldByAGirl Spotlight: Ibtihaj Muhammad

With the Summer Olympics almost here, it’s never too early to look at who will be there competing. Most of the hype will focus on swimming especially Michael Phelps’ last race and watching to see if he can capture another gold medal for Team USA. However, there’s one name that no one seems to be talking about and that is Ibtihaj Muhammad. She’s competing in one of the less popular sports, fencing, but that’s not why she’s this week’s spotlight. Muhammad is poised to become the first Muslim woman who observes hijab to qualify for the US Olympic Team.

Muhammad was born and raised in New Jersey. At age 13, she joined the fencing team after her parents tried to find a sport she could play where she could be fully covered. In 2002, she was a part of the Peter Westbrook foundation which is a program that helps kids use fencing as a vehicle for life skills. During her time with the foundation, she was coached by an Olympic fencer. She attended Duke University on an academic scholarship where she graduated in 2007 with degrees in both International Relations and African Studies.

Since then, she has competed in many fencing competitions. Last year, she was ranked as high as seventh in the world and participated in the Senior World Championship and Pan American Championship. She has competed in both since 2010 and has won bronze and gold in both championships. With her sights set on Rio, she is currently ranked second overall in the United States and 12th overall in the world.

Muhammad was the subject of controversy earlier this year as well. She was asked to remove her hijab for an event held by South by Southwest. When she was about to take her photo for her ID badge, she was told that it had to be removed. Even though Muhammad explained it is for religious reasons, she was still forced to remove it but would later receive an ID with a picture of her wearing it. However, the ID had the wrong name which the company later apologized for, but that doesn’t make the situation any better.

She is an advocate for female Muslim athletes as well. She is working to break the stereotype that Muslim woman cannot be athletes, “A large part of why I’m so involved in sport has to do with the small numbers of Muslim women who do wear the hijab who are involved in sports at the elite level.” Wearing a hijab is part of Muhammad’s identity and having that taken away had to be infuriating. However, she has used that incident as a platform to educate people on what hijabs are and why they’re important to Muslim culture.

Muhammad also started her own clothing company in 2014. Named “Louella”, the company focuses on modest clothing for women. Most of the models are also pictured wearing hijabs. The clothes are fashionable but without showing skin and look to be made of high-quality materials.

She isn’t just talking about Muslim women in sports; she’s doing something about it too. She’s a sports ambassador on the U.S. Department of State’s Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative. The initiative focuses on helping girls from overseas be able to participate in sports and open up the conversation about girls becoming more active in the sports world.

Ibtihaj Muhammad is truly a new face for the Olympics. She’s a woman of color who embraces her culture and isn’t afraid to show it. While she will be making her debut at the Olympics this summer, she has already made a huge impact throughout the world and the rest of the world will finally get to see her for who she truly is and what she represents.