Muhammad becomes first Muslim American to represent the US Olympic Team wearing a hijab

[Weatherman2020]

A great face of changing America


In addition to being eighth worldwide, the New Jersey native arrived at the Olympic Games ranked No. 2 in the U.S., yet her greatness goes beyond her athleticism.

Muhammad, who attended Duke on an academic scholarship, was one of Time's 100 Most influential People in 2016. In 2014, she launched her own clothing company called Louella which makes clothing that is both modest and fashion forward.

She is also a sports ambassador for the U.S. State Department's Empowering Women and Girls Through Sport Initiative and travels the world to teach girls the importance of sports and education.

Muhammad becomes first Muslim American to represent the US Olympic Team wearing a hijab


Muslim American fencer to Donald Trump: ‘I don’t have another home


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.

“I think his words are very dangerous,” Muhammad, who is competing in team sabre competition Monday morning, told CNN last week. “When these types of comments are made, no one thinks about how they really affect people. I’m African American. I don’t have another home to go to. My family was born here. I was born here. I’ve grown up in Jersey. All my family’s from Jersey.

Muslim American fencer to Donald Trump: ‘I don’t have another home’

“But, but, but she wants to change the perception about Muslims.”

 

[Coyote]

So you don't think we should support and celebrate our athletes and teams in the Olympics?

FYI - no one who gets into the Olympics is "mediocre". Let me know when you get in

You doubtless celebrate mediocrity, and I've little doubt why. I've seen your posts, noticed your writing and actually had a dialogue with you.

Yes, and for that one brief moment, you defined mediocrity in a flash of mediocre "brilliance". There should be a special award for that. Maybe a participation trophy.

 

[Coyote]

These are athletes, they went to represent the USA and compete....not to whine and play the victim card.

and definitely proud to be there representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future. They made some very nice statements to that fact. I loved what they said.

What has she actually said and who made the big fuss about her wearing a hijab? The media. Muhammad out - but media won't let hijab-wearing American go quietly

She's just a young woman, a lovely young woman, who made it to the Olympics and was trying to win for her country. She's OURS. She was proud to be out there, representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future.

Ibtihaj Muhammad stoic in defeat: 'I feel proud to represent Team USA'

If Donald Trump needs a reminder she stood in a hallway beneath the arena’s stands early Monday afternoon, her eyes wide and clear, her voice strong and words firm. She didn’t scream, she didn’t plead, she didn’t cry. She simply said: “I feel proud to represent Team USA even in defeat.”

She was here to fence, which is what got lost on the way to her first Olympics. In any other Games she would have been another 30-year-old woman from New Jersey, a mild curiosity as the first American female fencer to compete in a hijab. Her loss would have been a small note on NBC. Mostly her face would have disappeared in the montage of head shots the US Olympic Committee publishes of all 554 athletes who are here, barely recognizable in the mosaic that is America.

But the spring of Donald Trump has melded into the summer of Donald Trump and the words spilling from the campaign back home have made Ibtihaj Muhammad more than just another athlete on just another US Olympic team. She has become one of the best symbols against intolerance America can ever have.

“It’s almost like how can you not see that Muslims are like any other group?” she said on Monday. “We are conservative, we are liberal. There are women who cover, there are women who don’t. There are African American Muslims, there are white Muslims, there are Arab Muslims. There are so many different types of Muslims. So many Muslim countries have women as heads of state. And there are things I want people to be aware of. I want people to not see just those women but also Muslim women who participate in sports. The Saudi Arabian team, the Kuwaiti team and now the American team.”

Muhammad had a message even in her loss. The Olympics, she said, are bigger than her, bigger than any personal ambition or childhood dream. Monday wasn’t about her performance, it was about standing before the world and saying that her pursuit is as important as anybody else’s, that a loss should be a victory for so many other people who don’t have the luxury of competing in an Olympics.

“I think that anyone who has paid attention to the news would know the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA,” she said. “Again, it’s not just any team, it’s the United States of America. In light of all the political fuss that we hear about, all these things I feel like kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA. And again, it’s challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.”

She was asked what those misconceptions are.

“That someone is forcing me to wear this hijab,” she said. “That I’m oppressed. That I don’t have a voice. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m vert vocal, very verbal, and very comfortable expressing myself. I’ve always ben like that. I remember being told that I shouldn’t fence as a kid because I was black, and it’s like why? I want to fence, and this is what I want to do.”

She said her parents never said her religion or gender should stop her from doing what she wanted. Her father Eugene, a former cop, pushed his kids in sports like any other American father who wanted a family of athletes. He never wanted his daughters to feel they couldn’t compete because they wore clothes that were different from the kids at Columbia High School. He found his girls fencing for the same reason he found his son football. She chased her brother through their backyard pool and across sports fields all over town. She wants other girls to feel they can do the same.​

I couldn't care less about any woman who practices a faith where women are treated like garbage, she used the Olympics as a platform politically and religiously

So you say. I think she was just another athlete fulfilling her dream. But make it what you will.

Did she make a big deal out of the hijab and mention Trump's immigration policies?

She actually didn't, she answered questions. The media made a big deal of it.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

and definitely proud to be there representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future. They made some very nice statements to that fact. I loved what they said.

What has she actually said and who made the big fuss about her wearing a hijab? The media. Muhammad out - but media won't let hijab-wearing American go quietly

She's just a young woman, a lovely young woman, who made it to the Olympics and was trying to win for her country. She's OURS. She was proud to be out there, representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future.

Ibtihaj Muhammad stoic in defeat: 'I feel proud to represent Team USA'

If Donald Trump needs a reminder she stood in a hallway beneath the arena’s stands early Monday afternoon, her eyes wide and clear, her voice strong and words firm. She didn’t scream, she didn’t plead, she didn’t cry. She simply said: “I feel proud to represent Team USA even in defeat.”

She was here to fence, which is what got lost on the way to her first Olympics. In any other Games she would have been another 30-year-old woman from New Jersey, a mild curiosity as the first American female fencer to compete in a hijab. Her loss would have been a small note on NBC. Mostly her face would have disappeared in the montage of head shots the US Olympic Committee publishes of all 554 athletes who are here, barely recognizable in the mosaic that is America.

But the spring of Donald Trump has melded into the summer of Donald Trump and the words spilling from the campaign back home have made Ibtihaj Muhammad more than just another athlete on just another US Olympic team. She has become one of the best symbols against intolerance America can ever have.

“It’s almost like how can you not see that Muslims are like any other group?” she said on Monday. “We are conservative, we are liberal. There are women who cover, there are women who don’t. There are African American Muslims, there are white Muslims, there are Arab Muslims. There are so many different types of Muslims. So many Muslim countries have women as heads of state. And there are things I want people to be aware of. I want people to not see just those women but also Muslim women who participate in sports. The Saudi Arabian team, the Kuwaiti team and now the American team.”

Muhammad had a message even in her loss. The Olympics, she said, are bigger than her, bigger than any personal ambition or childhood dream. Monday wasn’t about her performance, it was about standing before the world and saying that her pursuit is as important as anybody else’s, that a loss should be a victory for so many other people who don’t have the luxury of competing in an Olympics.

“I think that anyone who has paid attention to the news would know the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA,” she said. “Again, it’s not just any team, it’s the United States of America. In light of all the political fuss that we hear about, all these things I feel like kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA. And again, it’s challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.”

She was asked what those misconceptions are.

“That someone is forcing me to wear this hijab,” she said. “That I’m oppressed. That I don’t have a voice. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m vert vocal, very verbal, and very comfortable expressing myself. I’ve always ben like that. I remember being told that I shouldn’t fence as a kid because I was black, and it’s like why? I want to fence, and this is what I want to do.”

She said her parents never said her religion or gender should stop her from doing what she wanted. Her father Eugene, a former cop, pushed his kids in sports like any other American father who wanted a family of athletes. He never wanted his daughters to feel they couldn’t compete because they wore clothes that were different from the kids at Columbia High School. He found his girls fencing for the same reason he found his son football. She chased her brother through their backyard pool and across sports fields all over town. She wants other girls to feel they can do the same.​

I couldn't care less about any woman who practices a faith where women are treated like garbage, she used the Olympics as a platform politically and religiously

So you say. I think she was just another athlete fulfilling her dream. But make it what you will.

Did she make a big deal out of the hijab and mention Trump's immigration policies?

She actually didn't, she answered questions. The media made a big deal of it.

Good grief...

 

[Meathead]

Yes, and for that one brief moment, you defined mediocrity in a flash of mediocre "brilliance". There should be a special award for that. Maybe a participation trophy.

No, you, your thoughts and a nobody hijab-wearing fencer defined mediocrity. Sorry, they don't give medals for wearing a hijab. We haven't reached that point, but I will say Obama's Nobel prize was a huge leap in that direction.

Sorry, I don't suffer dingbats well, I know.

 

[StLucieBengal]

Celebrate? What are we celebrating? She lost.

She, and her team are still our athletes. Does that only apply to the winners?

I guess that means something in the world of everyone gets a trophy.

Was watching women's foil today and there was no big deal made about our fencers outside of the fact that they were americans. They, unlike Mohammed, put their country first and competed. Mohammed decided it was more important to put the focus on her oppressive muzzie hood instead of putting the focus on our country.

No wonder she lost.

Not at all. I don't believe in participation trophies. But it IS an achievement to merely get to the Olympics. They aren't ordinary athletes.

People should have the freedom to wear symbols of their religion openly, without fear of attack.

Jewish women wear a wig. That's not even close to the same thing. Loads of women wear wigs for various reasons some just like to change their hair style.

My wife is Russian orthodox and she wears a scarf in church. When she leaves church she takes it off. She still maintains her religious traditions without making a spectacle and drawing attention.

Now to the religious freedom comment: When you are part of a team you conform to the uniform. Part of being part of team is giving up your individuality so you can work as a team. The fact that you don't understand this is amazing.

Orthodox Jewish women also wear headscarves, men wear kippahs. So what? Who made you the judge of what's religiously appropriate? We're not talking burkas here. The only reason you even care is that she is Muslim. It's like when folks were attacking Tebo for praying before a game. Who the hell cares?

She wears a helmet when fencing - you can't even see she is wearing a hijab. Seems pretty unobtrusive.

you obviously have never been on a team.

 

[jc456]

These are athletes, they went to represent the USA and compete....not to whine and play the victim card.

and definitely proud to be there representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future. They made some very nice statements to that fact. I loved what they said.

What has she actually said and who made the big fuss about her wearing a hijab? The media. Muhammad out - but media won't let hijab-wearing American go quietly

She's just a young woman, a lovely young woman, who made it to the Olympics and was trying to win for her country. She's OURS. She was proud to be out there, representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future.

Ibtihaj Muhammad stoic in defeat: 'I feel proud to represent Team USA'

If Donald Trump needs a reminder she stood in a hallway beneath the arena’s stands early Monday afternoon, her eyes wide and clear, her voice strong and words firm. She didn’t scream, she didn’t plead, she didn’t cry. She simply said: “I feel proud to represent Team USA even in defeat.”

She was here to fence, which is what got lost on the way to her first Olympics. In any other Games she would have been another 30-year-old woman from New Jersey, a mild curiosity as the first American female fencer to compete in a hijab. Her loss would have been a small note on NBC. Mostly her face would have disappeared in the montage of head shots the US Olympic Committee publishes of all 554 athletes who are here, barely recognizable in the mosaic that is America.

But the spring of Donald Trump has melded into the summer of Donald Trump and the words spilling from the campaign back home have made Ibtihaj Muhammad more than just another athlete on just another US Olympic team. She has become one of the best symbols against intolerance America can ever have.

“It’s almost like how can you not see that Muslims are like any other group?” she said on Monday. “We are conservative, we are liberal. There are women who cover, there are women who don’t. There are African American Muslims, there are white Muslims, there are Arab Muslims. There are so many different types of Muslims. So many Muslim countries have women as heads of state. And there are things I want people to be aware of. I want people to not see just those women but also Muslim women who participate in sports. The Saudi Arabian team, the Kuwaiti team and now the American team.”

Muhammad had a message even in her loss. The Olympics, she said, are bigger than her, bigger than any personal ambition or childhood dream. Monday wasn’t about her performance, it was about standing before the world and saying that her pursuit is as important as anybody else’s, that a loss should be a victory for so many other people who don’t have the luxury of competing in an Olympics.

“I think that anyone who has paid attention to the news would know the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA,” she said. “Again, it’s not just any team, it’s the United States of America. In light of all the political fuss that we hear about, all these things I feel like kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA. And again, it’s challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.”

She was asked what those misconceptions are.

“That someone is forcing me to wear this hijab,” she said. “That I’m oppressed. That I don’t have a voice. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m vert vocal, very verbal, and very comfortable expressing myself. I’ve always ben like that. I remember being told that I shouldn’t fence as a kid because I was black, and it’s like why? I want to fence, and this is what I want to do.”

She said her parents never said her religion or gender should stop her from doing what she wanted. Her father Eugene, a former cop, pushed his kids in sports like any other American father who wanted a family of athletes. He never wanted his daughters to feel they couldn’t compete because they wore clothes that were different from the kids at Columbia High School. He found his girls fencing for the same reason he found his son football. She chased her brother through their backyard pool and across sports fields all over town. She wants other girls to feel they can do the same.​

I couldn't care less about any woman who practices a faith where women are treated like garbage, she used the Olympics as a platform politically and religiously

So you say. I think she was just another athlete fulfilling her dream. But make it what you will.

well, someone held captive can be broken down to join and idolizing the captors. I believe Patty Hearst was one such individual. her words:

"Patty Hearst: I mean, if you are going to break somebody down, you clearly use everything that is at your disposal--and obviously sexual molestation is a really powerful way to attack a woman."

The fact that the media made something out of this is all on the media, don't you think? How is this somehow folks in here's problem. No one here cares what the hell she wears. however, the symbol of the hijab is oppression. Sorry, it's just what it is. To be proud to wear it just might be a sign that she succumbed to the idea of being oppressed like Patty Hearst.

It is a symbol. And its symbol is not nice.

 

[Sunni Man]

Now to the religious freedom comment: When you are part of a team you conform to the uniform. Part of being part of team is giving up your individuality so you can work as a team. The fact that you don't understand this is amazing.

Not so fast Poindexter. .......

Meet U.S. Army Capt. Simratpal Singh, a decorated Afghan War veteran, that is allowed to wear a turban, long hair, and a beard, while in active duty uniform.

Sikh Army captain may wear beard, turban in uniform - CNN.com

 

[Coyote]

I'm proud of the people in our teams representing the US, all of them

 

[Coyote]

These are athletes, they went to represent the USA and compete....not to whine and play the victim card.

and definitely proud to be there representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future. They made some very nice statements to that fact. I loved what they said.

What has she actually said and who made the big fuss about her wearing a hijab? The media. Muhammad out - but media won't let hijab-wearing American go quietly

She's just a young woman, a lovely young woman, who made it to the Olympics and was trying to win for her country. She's OURS. She was proud to be out there, representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future.

Ibtihaj Muhammad stoic in defeat: 'I feel proud to represent Team USA'

If Donald Trump needs a reminder she stood in a hallway beneath the arena’s stands early Monday afternoon, her eyes wide and clear, her voice strong and words firm. She didn’t scream, she didn’t plead, she didn’t cry. She simply said: “I feel proud to represent Team USA even in defeat.”

She was here to fence, which is what got lost on the way to her first Olympics. In any other Games she would have been another 30-year-old woman from New Jersey, a mild curiosity as the first American female fencer to compete in a hijab. Her loss would have been a small note on NBC. Mostly her face would have disappeared in the montage of head shots the US Olympic Committee publishes of all 554 athletes who are here, barely recognizable in the mosaic that is America.

But the spring of Donald Trump has melded into the summer of Donald Trump and the words spilling from the campaign back home have made Ibtihaj Muhammad more than just another athlete on just another US Olympic team. She has become one of the best symbols against intolerance America can ever have.

“It’s almost like how can you not see that Muslims are like any other group?” she said on Monday. “We are conservative, we are liberal. There are women who cover, there are women who don’t. There are African American Muslims, there are white Muslims, there are Arab Muslims. There are so many different types of Muslims. So many Muslim countries have women as heads of state. And there are things I want people to be aware of. I want people to not see just those women but also Muslim women who participate in sports. The Saudi Arabian team, the Kuwaiti team and now the American team.”

Muhammad had a message even in her loss. The Olympics, she said, are bigger than her, bigger than any personal ambition or childhood dream. Monday wasn’t about her performance, it was about standing before the world and saying that her pursuit is as important as anybody else’s, that a loss should be a victory for so many other people who don’t have the luxury of competing in an Olympics.

“I think that anyone who has paid attention to the news would know the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA,” she said. “Again, it’s not just any team, it’s the United States of America. In light of all the political fuss that we hear about, all these things I feel like kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA. And again, it’s challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.”

She was asked what those misconceptions are.

“That someone is forcing me to wear this hijab,” she said. “That I’m oppressed. That I don’t have a voice. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m vert vocal, very verbal, and very comfortable expressing myself. I’ve always ben like that. I remember being told that I shouldn’t fence as a kid because I was black, and it’s like why? I want to fence, and this is what I want to do.”

She said her parents never said her religion or gender should stop her from doing what she wanted. Her father Eugene, a former cop, pushed his kids in sports like any other American father who wanted a family of athletes. He never wanted his daughters to feel they couldn’t compete because they wore clothes that were different from the kids at Columbia High School. He found his girls fencing for the same reason he found his son football. She chased her brother through their backyard pool and across sports fields all over town. She wants other girls to feel they can do the same.​

I couldn't care less about any woman who practices a faith where women are treated like garbage, she used the Olympics as a platform politically and religiously

So you say. I think she was just another athlete fulfilling her dream. But make it what you will.

well, someone held captive can be broken down to join and idolizing the captors. I believe Patty Hearst was one such individual. her words:

"Patty Hearst: I mean, if you are going to break somebody down, you clearly use everything that is at your disposal--and obviously sexual molestation is a really powerful way to attack a woman."

The fact that the media made something out of this is all on the media, don't you think? How is this somehow folks in here's problem. No one here cares what the hell she wears. however, the symbol of the hijab is oppression. Sorry, it's just what it is. To be proud to wear it just might be a sign that she succumbed to the idea of being oppressed like Patty Hearst.

It is a symbol. And its symbol is not nice.

The hijab is only a symbol of oppression to those who hate Islam. Orthodox Jewish women wear headscarves. Mormons wear sacred underclothing. No one cares. Muslim women choose to wear or not wear the hijab for many reasons.

If you want a symbol of cultural oppression in the name of religion, I'd say the burka is a far better choice.

 

[Coyote]

Yes, and for that one brief moment, you defined mediocrity in a flash of mediocre "brilliance". There should be a special award for that. Maybe a participation trophy.

No, you, your thoughts and a nobody hijab-wearing fencer defined mediocrity. Sorry, they don't give medals for wearing a hijab. We haven't reached that point, but I will say Obama's Nobel prize was a huge leap in that direction.

Sorry, I don't suffer dingbats well, I know.

Then don't be one.

 

[skookerasbil]

Progressives are mental cases.

A bunch of them shit the bit last night at Fenway Park in Boston.........they had a David Ortiz ( Big Papi ) Bobblehead night and the limpwristers complained because the lips on the bobblehead were too big and thus, "racially insensitive". The park pulled the bobbleheads!!

Im still laughing..........

 

[StLucieBengal]

I just pulled up the USA fencing team. Reading the bio's of all the women is hilarious. Every single one has legitimate credentials except good ole Muhammad. what a joke. the rest of the team has to be rolling their eyes.

Meet The 2016 U.S. Olympic Fencing Team

Mariel Zagunis
Discipline: Women’s saber
Hometown: Beaverton, Oregon
Age: 31
Olympic Experience: Zagunis, a three-time Olympic medalist, will be on her fourth U.S. Olympic team in Rio. She won individual gold medals in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing, and a team bronze medal in 2008. She missed an individual medal in London by just one spot, though she was chosen by her peers as Team USA’s Opening Ceremony flag bearer that year.
Journey to Rio: A win in a world cup tournament in Athens earlier this year was the cherry on top of Zagunis’ No. 1 U.S. ranking and qualified her for the Rio Games. She is the most decorated fencer in U.S. history, and has won 13 world championship medals.
Quick Fact: Zagunis is the daughter of Olympic rowers Catherine and Robert Zagunis, both of whom competed at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
Bonus Fact: In 2004, Zagunis only qualified for the U.S. Olympic team when an athlete from Nigeria chose not to go. When given the opportunity to compete, Zagunis ended up becoming the first U.S. fencer to claim an Olympic gold medal in 100 years. Her gold medal was also the first awarded in Olympic women’s saber fencing.

Dagmara Wozniak
Discipline: Women’s saber
Hometown: Avenel, New Jersey
Age: 27
Olympic Experience: Wozniak made her Olympic debut in 2012, finishing eighth in the individual competition. She was also a replacement athlete in the 2008 Games for the team event, but was not called to action. In Rio, she’ll compete individually and with the team.
Journey to Rio: A strong 2015 season helped put Wozniak in position to claim the third spot on the women’s saber Olympic team in 2016. She won eight medals in 2015, including individual and team gold in the 2015 Pan American Games.
Quick Fact: Born in Wroclaw, Poland, Wozniak moved to the United States with her family when she was 1. She began fencing at age 9.

Nzingha Prescod
Discipline: Women’s foil
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Age: 23
Olympic Experience: She’ll compete in her second Olympic Games in Rio. Prescod helped the women’s foil team to a sixth-place finish in the London Games and finished 22nd individually.
Journey to Rio: Prescod’s road to a second Olympic team began with a grand prix title in 2013 in Marseille, France. That victory was the first by a U.S. women’s foil fencer in a grand prix tournament. She achieved a No. 7 world ranking in 2016, right behind two-time Olympic teammate Lee Kiefer.
Quick Fact: Prescod became the first African-American woman to win a world championships medal when she won a bronze medal in 2015.

Lee Kiefer
Discipline: Women’s foil
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Age: 21
Olympic Experience: Kiefer placed fifth in the individual competition, and sixth in the team, when she made her Olympic debut in the 2012 Games.
Journey to Rio: A silver medal in the La Havane Grand Prix helped Kiefer obtain a No. 6 world ranking (tops in the United States) and her second Olympic team berth. She won gold medals in both the individual and team competitions in the 2015 Pan American Games.
Quick Fact: Kiefer was the youngest member of the 2009 world championship team at age 15.

Kelley Hurley
Discipline: Women’s epee
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Age: 27
Olympic Experience: Kelley is on her third Olympic team, after competing individually in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and in the team competition in 2012 in London. She helped the women’s epee team win its first Olympic medal, a bronze, in London.
Journey to Rio: Hurley qualified for the Rio Games with her second-place finish in the U.S. rankings behind her younger sister, Courtney. Kelley won a bronze medal in a grand prix tournament in Rio to help accumulate points. A strong 2015 season included a fifth consecutive team gold medal in the Pan American Championships, and a silver medal in the individual competition.
Quick Fact: Rio will mark the first time in the Olympic Games that Kelley and Courtney Hurley will compete with each other in the team event and also against each other in the individual competition.

Courtney Hurley
Discipline: Women’s epee
Hometown: Houston
Age: 25
Olympic Experience: She made her Olympic debut in 2012 and helped Team USA win a bronze medal. She finished 22nd in the individual competition.
Journey to Rio: She is ranked No. 1 in the United States and 20th in the world in women’s epee. Hurley has won a combined six gold medals (individual and team) in the last four Pan American Championships.
Quick Fact: Courtney and her sister, Kelley, were one of nine pairs of U.S. siblings to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Katharine Holmes
Discipline: Women’s epee
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Age: 22
Olympic Experience: She’ll make her Olympic debut in Rio.
Journey to Rio: A fencer for Team USA at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and a three-time member of the U.S. women’s epee world championships team, Holmes grabbed the third spot on the Olympic team behind sisters Kelley and Courtney Hurley. She has won three individual medals and three team medals in the Pan American Championships.
Quick Fact: In 2008, she was a finalist for the Sports Illustrated Kid of the Year award.

Now to see the credentials of Muhammad ......

Ibtihaj Muhammad
Discipline: Women’s saber
Hometown: Maplewood, New Jersey
Age: 30
Olympic Experience: She’ll make her Olympic debut in Rio, where she will be the first U.S. athlete to compete in the Games wearing a hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women.
Journey to Rio: Muhammad won bronze medals in two of the first three world cup events this season, helping secure a spot on her first U.S. Olympic team. A hand injury in 2012 kept her from qualifying for the London Games. She’ll compete in both the individual and team competitions in Rio.
Quick Fact: She owns her own fashion brand — Louella by Ibtihaj Muhammad.

 

[StLucieBengal]

Now to the religious freedom comment: When you are part of a team you conform to the uniform. Part of being part of team is giving up your individuality so you can work as a team. The fact that you don't understand this is amazing.

Not so fast Poindexter. .......

Meet U.S. Army Capt. Simratpal Singh, a decorated Afghan War veteran, that is allowed to wear a turban, long hair, and a beard, while in active duty uniform.

Sikh Army captain may wear beard, turban in uniform - CNN.com

Yes and now the enemy can easily spot him on the battlefield and kill him. You put people in danger all because of Political correctness.

 

[Coyote]

This is her first Olympics..."Muhammad won bronze medals in two of the first three world cup events this season"

Don't see what's so bad about her credentials.

 

[Coyote]

Now to the religious freedom comment: When you are part of a team you conform to the uniform. Part of being part of team is giving up your individuality so you can work as a team. The fact that you don't understand this is amazing.

Not so fast Poindexter. .......

Meet U.S. Army Capt. Simratpal Singh, a decorated Afghan War veteran, that is allowed to wear a turban, long hair, and a beard, while in active duty uniform.

Sikh Army captain may wear beard, turban in uniform - CNN.com

Yes and now the enemy can easily spot him on the battlefield and kill him. You put people in danger all because of Political correctness.

What's politically correct about it?

Doesn't look much different from the hats...not much at all. Maybe they need to rethink the hat style if it puts folks in danger.

 

[Sunni Man]

I just pulled up the USA fencing team. Reading the bio's of all the women is hilarious. Every single one has legitimate credentials except good ole Muhammad. what a joke. the rest of the team has to be rolling their eyes.

Meet The 2016 U.S. Olympic Fencing Team

Mariel Zagunis
Discipline: Women’s saber
Hometown: Beaverton, Oregon
Age: 31
Olympic Experience: Zagunis, a three-time Olympic medalist, will be on her fourth U.S. Olympic team in Rio. She won individual gold medals in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing, and a team bronze medal in 2008. She missed an individual medal in London by just one spot, though she was chosen by her peers as Team USA’s Opening Ceremony flag bearer that year.
Journey to Rio: A win in a world cup tournament in Athens earlier this year was the cherry on top of Zagunis’ No. 1 U.S. ranking and qualified her for the Rio Games. She is the most decorated fencer in U.S. history, and has won 13 world championship medals.
Quick Fact: Zagunis is the daughter of Olympic rowers Catherine and Robert Zagunis, both of whom competed at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
Bonus Fact: In 2004, Zagunis only qualified for the U.S. Olympic team when an athlete from Nigeria chose not to go. When given the opportunity to compete, Zagunis ended up becoming the first U.S. fencer to claim an Olympic gold medal in 100 years. Her gold medal was also the first awarded in Olympic women’s saber fencing.

Dagmara Wozniak
Discipline: Women’s saber
Hometown: Avenel, New Jersey
Age: 27
Olympic Experience: Wozniak made her Olympic debut in 2012, finishing eighth in the individual competition. She was also a replacement athlete in the 2008 Games for the team event, but was not called to action. In Rio, she’ll compete individually and with the team.
Journey to Rio: A strong 2015 season helped put Wozniak in position to claim the third spot on the women’s saber Olympic team in 2016. She won eight medals in 2015, including individual and team gold in the 2015 Pan American Games.
Quick Fact: Born in Wroclaw, Poland, Wozniak moved to the United States with her family when she was 1. She began fencing at age 9.

Nzingha Prescod
Discipline: Women’s foil
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Age: 23
Olympic Experience: She’ll compete in her second Olympic Games in Rio. Prescod helped the women’s foil team to a sixth-place finish in the London Games and finished 22nd individually.
Journey to Rio: Prescod’s road to a second Olympic team began with a grand prix title in 2013 in Marseille, France. That victory was the first by a U.S. women’s foil fencer in a grand prix tournament. She achieved a No. 7 world ranking in 2016, right behind two-time Olympic teammate Lee Kiefer.
Quick Fact: Prescod became the first African-American woman to win a world championships medal when she won a bronze medal in 2015.

Lee Kiefer
Discipline: Women’s foil
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Age: 21
Olympic Experience: Kiefer placed fifth in the individual competition, and sixth in the team, when she made her Olympic debut in the 2012 Games.
Journey to Rio: A silver medal in the La Havane Grand Prix helped Kiefer obtain a No. 6 world ranking (tops in the United States) and her second Olympic team berth. She won gold medals in both the individual and team competitions in the 2015 Pan American Games.
Quick Fact: Kiefer was the youngest member of the 2009 world championship team at age 15.

Kelley Hurley
Discipline: Women’s epee
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Age: 27
Olympic Experience: Kelley is on her third Olympic team, after competing individually in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and in the team competition in 2012 in London. She helped the women’s epee team win its first Olympic medal, a bronze, in London.
Journey to Rio: Hurley qualified for the Rio Games with her second-place finish in the U.S. rankings behind her younger sister, Courtney. Kelley won a bronze medal in a grand prix tournament in Rio to help accumulate points. A strong 2015 season included a fifth consecutive team gold medal in the Pan American Championships, and a silver medal in the individual competition.
Quick Fact: Rio will mark the first time in the Olympic Games that Kelley and Courtney Hurley will compete with each other in the team event and also against each other in the individual competition.

Courtney Hurley
Discipline: Women’s epee
Hometown: Houston
Age: 25
Olympic Experience: She made her Olympic debut in 2012 and helped Team USA win a bronze medal. She finished 22nd in the individual competition.
Journey to Rio: She is ranked No. 1 in the United States and 20th in the world in women’s epee. Hurley has won a combined six gold medals (individual and team) in the last four Pan American Championships.
Quick Fact: Courtney and her sister, Kelley, were one of nine pairs of U.S. siblings to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Katharine Holmes
Discipline: Women’s epee
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Age: 22
Olympic Experience: She’ll make her Olympic debut in Rio.
Journey to Rio: A fencer for Team USA at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and a three-time member of the U.S. women’s epee world championships team, Holmes grabbed the third spot on the Olympic team behind sisters Kelley and Courtney Hurley. She has won three individual medals and three team medals in the Pan American Championships.
Quick Fact: In 2008, she was a finalist for the Sports Illustrated Kid of the Year award.

Now to see the credentials of Muhammad ......

Ibtihaj Muhammad
Discipline: Women’s saber
Hometown: Maplewood, New Jersey
Age: 30
Olympic Experience: She’ll make her Olympic debut in Rio, where she will be the first U.S. athlete to compete in the Games wearing a hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women.
Journey to Rio: Muhammad won bronze medals in two of the first three world cup events this season, helping secure a spot on her first U.S. Olympic team. A hand injury in 2012 kept her from qualifying for the London Games. She’ll compete in both the individual and team competitions in Rio.

You must have missed this part of Ms. Muhammad's bio that you posted. ......

"Muhammad won bronze medals in two of the first three world cup events this season, helping secure a spot on her first U.S. Olympic team."

 

[Coyote]

I wonder how many folks on this thread have made it to a position on the Olympic teams?

 

[jc456]

and definitely proud to be there representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future. They made some very nice statements to that fact. I loved what they said.

What has she actually said and who made the big fuss about her wearing a hijab? The media. Muhammad out - but media won't let hijab-wearing American go quietly

She's just a young woman, a lovely young woman, who made it to the Olympics and was trying to win for her country. She's OURS. She was proud to be out there, representing and being good influences to other american girls looking to try out in the future.

Ibtihaj Muhammad stoic in defeat: 'I feel proud to represent Team USA'

If Donald Trump needs a reminder she stood in a hallway beneath the arena’s stands early Monday afternoon, her eyes wide and clear, her voice strong and words firm. She didn’t scream, she didn’t plead, she didn’t cry. She simply said: “I feel proud to represent Team USA even in defeat.”

She was here to fence, which is what got lost on the way to her first Olympics. In any other Games she would have been another 30-year-old woman from New Jersey, a mild curiosity as the first American female fencer to compete in a hijab. Her loss would have been a small note on NBC. Mostly her face would have disappeared in the montage of head shots the US Olympic Committee publishes of all 554 athletes who are here, barely recognizable in the mosaic that is America.

But the spring of Donald Trump has melded into the summer of Donald Trump and the words spilling from the campaign back home have made Ibtihaj Muhammad more than just another athlete on just another US Olympic team. She has become one of the best symbols against intolerance America can ever have.

“It’s almost like how can you not see that Muslims are like any other group?” she said on Monday. “We are conservative, we are liberal. There are women who cover, there are women who don’t. There are African American Muslims, there are white Muslims, there are Arab Muslims. There are so many different types of Muslims. So many Muslim countries have women as heads of state. And there are things I want people to be aware of. I want people to not see just those women but also Muslim women who participate in sports. The Saudi Arabian team, the Kuwaiti team and now the American team.”

Muhammad had a message even in her loss. The Olympics, she said, are bigger than her, bigger than any personal ambition or childhood dream. Monday wasn’t about her performance, it was about standing before the world and saying that her pursuit is as important as anybody else’s, that a loss should be a victory for so many other people who don’t have the luxury of competing in an Olympics.

“I think that anyone who has paid attention to the news would know the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA,” she said. “Again, it’s not just any team, it’s the United States of America. In light of all the political fuss that we hear about, all these things I feel like kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA. And again, it’s challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.”

She was asked what those misconceptions are.

“That someone is forcing me to wear this hijab,” she said. “That I’m oppressed. That I don’t have a voice. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m vert vocal, very verbal, and very comfortable expressing myself. I’ve always ben like that. I remember being told that I shouldn’t fence as a kid because I was black, and it’s like why? I want to fence, and this is what I want to do.”

She said her parents never said her religion or gender should stop her from doing what she wanted. Her father Eugene, a former cop, pushed his kids in sports like any other American father who wanted a family of athletes. He never wanted his daughters to feel they couldn’t compete because they wore clothes that were different from the kids at Columbia High School. He found his girls fencing for the same reason he found his son football. She chased her brother through their backyard pool and across sports fields all over town. She wants other girls to feel they can do the same.​

I couldn't care less about any woman who practices a faith where women are treated like garbage, she used the Olympics as a platform politically and religiously

So you say. I think she was just another athlete fulfilling her dream. But make it what you will.

well, someone held captive can be broken down to join and idolizing the captors. I believe Patty Hearst was one such individual. her words:

"Patty Hearst: I mean, if you are going to break somebody down, you clearly use everything that is at your disposal--and obviously sexual molestation is a really powerful way to attack a woman."

The fact that the media made something out of this is all on the media, don't you think? How is this somehow folks in here's problem. No one here cares what the hell she wears. however, the symbol of the hijab is oppression. Sorry, it's just what it is. To be proud to wear it just might be a sign that she succumbed to the idea of being oppressed like Patty Hearst.

It is a symbol. And its symbol is not nice.

The hijab is only a symbol of oppression to those who hate Islam. Orthodox Jewish women wear headscarves. Mormons wear sacred underclothing. No one cares. Muslim women choose to wear or not wear the hijab for many reasons.

If you want a symbol of cultural oppression in the name of religion, I'd say the burka is a far better choice.

Definition.
"Hijab
A hijab or ḥijāb is a veil that covers the head and chest, which is particularly worn by some Muslim women beyond the age of puberty in the presence of adult males outside of their immediate family. It can further refer to any head, face, or body covering worn by Muslim women that conforms to a certain standard of modesty."

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

No one is celebrating attire, just the right and freedom to wear it. I've yet to see folks attacking the Amish for dressing Amish.

I've yet to see Amish blowing up buildings, killing gays in night clubs or slitting throats of non-believers either.

"I've yet to see Amish blowing up buildings, killing gays in night clubs or slitting throats of non-believers either."

But but but....oh hold on, I forgot, um The Crusades and stuff