At the Olympics in Rio from the US team for the first time will perform an athlete in the hijab. VIDEO

Time magazine included Ibtihaj Muhammad in the 100 list of the most influential people of the current year. Photo: Twitter / IbtihajMuhammad

American swordsman Ibtihaj muhammad is one of the main contenders for the gold medal in the tournament sablist. In 2014, in Kazan, she became the world champion in team competitions.

However, the 30-year-old athlete will make history even before the end of the competition in Rio - as the first representative of the US team to compete in a hijab - a traditional Islamic headscarf.

This fact is of particular importance, given the debate in the United States after a series of attacks and statements by US presidential candidate Donald Trump about the need to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Time magazine included Ibtihaj muhammad 100’s list of the most influential people of this year, andResident Obama noted it personally during a visit to a mosque in Baltimore, asking to “bring home the gold.” Earlier in April, Muhammad gave a fencing lesson to US First Lady Michelle Obama during her visit to New York.

“We are now living in a difficult political situation, Muslims are literally under the microscope,” Muhammad told reporters at a meeting in Los Angeles before traveling to Rio de Janeiro.

The swordsman grew up in a state of New Jersey in a family with four brothers and sisters, a father-detective and a mother-teacher. She has been involved in sports since childhood, but she admits that she felt uncomfortable playing volleyball or running on the athletics arenas in the hijab and sports equipment over long-sleeved clothing.

“The color of my skin and my religion made other people feel uncomfortable,” Muhammad said. “In the end, fencing seemed to find me because I wanted to play a sport in which I would be fully equipped and not different from others.”

Once during a trip through the city, her mother stopped at a traffic light, and Ibtihaj saw in the window of a nearby building children who were trained in uniform and masks. Soon she started fencing herself.

While she was studying at Duke University, North Carolina, for a specialist in international relations, Muhammad became the champion of the United States three times. After graduation, she continued to train in the national program.

Against the background of discussions about Muslims in the United States Ibtihaj muhammad They began to often invite her to popular TV shows, and she was remembered for her clear, balanced answers. Among other things, she described how one day a man who was following her down the street asked if she was “going to blow something up.”

At one of the festivals where the athlete was invited to perform, she was asked to remove the hijab for an accreditation photo. Later, the organizers apologized to her.

Additionally, Ibtihaj more than once became the object of threats on the Internet. The athlete admits that she simply removes this kind of message from her computer.

“I intend to change the image that people might have about women who practice Islam. I want people to see that we can participate in the Olympic Games,” Muhammad says about his goals.

The athlete also told how difficult it is for her to combine sports and preparations for the Olympics with Muslim traditions, including during her mandatory fasting during Ramadan.

“This is an important spiritual moment for me as a Muslim, but at the same time, I had to prepare for the Games,” explains the fencer.

In 2012, injury prevented Ibtihaj Muhammad from taking part in the London Olympics. However, she admits that even after the disappointment of 2012, she remained philosophical about the situation thanks to her faith, which helps her “remember the main thing.”

Как wrote ForumDaily previously, the athletic honor of the United States at the 2016 Games in Rio will be defended by athletes of different faiths, and by the total number of athletes, Americans will be ahead of the rest of the states in Brazil.

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