The long journey of America's first Olympian to compete in a hijab
 

The long journey of America's first Olympian to compete in a hijab
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Ibtihaj Muhammad was a college fencer at Duke University in 2004, the year her sport — women's saber — became an Olympic event at the Games in Athens, Greece.*

She was more than a decade away from becoming the first American Olympian to compete wearing the hijab, a head scarf worn by many Muslim women, training for her college squad at an age when the best college-age fencers were already practicing for the Games.*

SEE ALSO: Olympic athlete tweets difficulty registering for SXSW while wearing a hijab


Muhammad had been an athletic child, playing a range of sports such as tennis, volleyball and softball, but she was often teased and harassed for wearing the hijab. She only started fencing at the age of 13, as it was a sport that allowed her to conceal her hijab with the fencing helmet. Read more...

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