D'Amato: Muslim fencer fights stereotypes

Rio de Janeiro — Beneath the fencing facemask is a hijab and beneath the hijab is an athlete.

The latter is what Ibtihaj Muhammad wants you to see. She wants you to get past the layers — the mask, the scarf, the stereotypes — and see her for what she is: an elite saber fencer who happens to be an African-American woman, and an African-American woman who happens to be a Muslim.

“I want people to know that I’m not an anomaly,” Muhammad said. “I’m not special in any way.”

Well, that’s not entirely true. She is an Olympian.

And there is this: When the 30-year-old New Jersey native steps onto the piste Monday to face Olena Kravatska of Ukraine, she will become the first U.S. woman to compete in a hijab, or headscarf, at the Olympic Games.

Muhammad, ranked eighth in the world, is acutely aware that she is a role model for the Muslim community in America and especially for Muslim girls who have been told what they cannot do or should not be.

Fiercely proud and unafraid to speak her mind, she cuts through stereotypes as deftly as she cuts down opponents.

“Some people may have a very narrow image of who the Muslim woman is,” she said. “I want to change that. I know that Muslim people are very, very diverse, especially in the United States. We come in all different shapes, colors and sizes and we come from different backgrounds and we’re productive members of society.

“I’m hoping we can change our direction a little bit and see Muslims in more of a positive light and try to combat the negative imagery that we may be shown every day.”

Muhammad didn’t set out to change the world when she discovered fencing. She’d played other sports while clothed head to toe and wearing a hijab but was the target of comments and lingering stares that made her feel uncomfortable. And she didn’t see anyone else who looked like her kicking a ball or shooting baskets.

“When I was growing up,” she said, “I feel like I didn’t have female Muslim athletes that I could look up to.”

One day, when Muhammad was 12, her mother was driving past a high school when she saw fencers through a window, covered from head to toe. She told her daughter, “I don’t know what they’re doing, but you’re going to do it.”

The fencing uniform accommodates Muhammad’s religious beliefs because it covers her legs, arms and even her hijab.

“I was able to be in uniform with my teammates and I wasn’t necessarily being acknowledged for my skin or my religion,” she said. “People were focused on my skill set as an athlete. That feeling was very fulfilling as a kid.”

Muhammad led Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., to a pair of state team fencing titles. At 16, she switched from epee to saber, which targets everything above the waist and allows scoring with the edge of the blade as well as with the tip.

She trained in the Peter Westbrook Foundation’s elite athlete program in New York City and was a three-time all-American at Duke University, graduating in 2007 with a double major in international relations and African-American studies and a minor in Arabic.

In 2012, Muhammad was invited by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to serve on the Department of State’s Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports, and this year she participated in a roundtable discussion with President Barack Obama at a mosque in Baltimore.

They chatted about the Rio Olympics and Obama told her, “Go win the gold medal.”

Despite her fencing success — she has won five team medals at the World Championships, including gold in 2014 — Muhammad’s journey has not been an easy one.

“I remember being a kid and people telling me that I didn’t belong in my sport because of my skin color,” she said. “I remember people telling me that I didn’t belong because I was Muslim.”

After the Twin Towers fell, Muhammad was asked to leave an airport in Belgium unless she removed her headscarf, before cooler heads prevailed. In New York City, someone followed her home after a practice and tried to report her to the police.

Earlier this year, at a film and music festival in Austin, Texas, she was asked by a volunteer to remove her hijab to be photographed for a credential; festival organizers eventually apologized to her.

Muhammad is feisty and her inclination is to fight the slights and insults, but her father, Eugene, a retired police officer, told her long ago, “The more you protest, the more you have to take off.”

“It’s not easy,” she said. “It’s a tough political environment we’re in right now. I think Muslims are under the microscope and I’m hoping to change the image that people may have of Muslim women.”

Among those who will be watching from afar is Aamna Javed, who ran cross-country for Salam School, a Muslim school in Milwaukee, and holds several school records. Like all the girls on her team, Javed competed with her arms and legs fully clothed and wearing a hijab.

“I won a couple medals and people were impressed that I could run so well while fully clothed,” she said. “I think cross country made me the person I am. I’m studying physiological sciences at Marquette University, and I would like to be a physical therapist. That comes from cross country.”

Javed doesn’t know much about fencing, but she knows about Muhammad.

“Yes, I have followed her career,” she said. “I heard there was a Muslim girl wearing a scarf and competing in fencing. The fact that she is a Muslim woman and is playing a sport – though it’s not one I have ever played – is an inspiration.”

Said Muhammad, “Can I influence the debate? I don’t know. I’m just trying to do well in Rio. That’s my plan.”