Ibtihaj Muhammad, The US's First Hijab-Wearing Athlete in rio olympic 2016
Fencer Muhammad's message doesn't end with Olympic loss
Muhammad, who grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey, before attending Duke University, still has another chance to win a medal here in Rio when the U.S. women compete in the team sabre competition. But she hasn't elaborated much on her plans beyond that.
The witnessing she did over the past two years, in particular, pushing back against the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has heated up around the world, and both within without the Muslim community, and her message of tolerance earned her widespread attention.
Everyone from sports networks to political figures, women's organizations to religious groups sought her out. Entertainers such as Stephen Colbert and Ellen DeGeneres put her on TV, President Obama asked her to take part in a discussion panel when he made his first visit as president to an American mosque, and Time magazine named her among its 100 most influential people of 2016 and elaborated on her story.
Her saying
"I think anyone who listens to the news reports at all would realize the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA," she said.
"It's not just any team, it's the United States of America. And in light of what's going on in our country, the political thoughts that we hear about -- all these things -- I feel kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA and, again, just challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.
"It's almost like how could you not see that Muslims are like any other group, you know? We are conservatives and we are liberals, there are women who cover and 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. There are so many Muslim countries that have had women as their heads of state. Those are things that I want people to be aware of."
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