The First U.S. Olympic Athlete Competing in a Hijab

For Muhammad and many Muslim women, hijab is a symbol of both their identity and their spiritual connection to God. And she is soon to be the first U.S. athlete who competes in hijab at the Olympics.

So it is even more important that this Muslim-American and African-American fencer, this American woman, has a sense of self that shone brightly as she sat in a director’s chair at The Beverly Hilton, facing wave after wave of reporters over more than an hour, answering some questions over and over, ducking none completely even if she deflected some deftly.