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Thursday 04 Feb 2016 - 18:53 Makkah mean time-25-4-1437
 New Jersey, (IINA) - Ibtihaj Muhammad, a saber fencer for Team USA, will make history later this year when she becomes the first American to compete in the Olympics with wearing a hijab, according to media reports.
Team USA announced on Tuesday that Ibtihaj, 30 year-old, qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after winning a bronze medal in the saber fencing world cup in Athens last weekend, earning her the necessary number of Olympic qualifying points. She previously made headlines when she became the first Muslim woman to compete for the U.S. in fencing.
Ibtihaj is ranked second in USA Fencing’s women's standings and will compete in the individual and team events in Rio this summer. Muhammad’s teammate, Mariel Zagunis, who took gold in the Athens world cup and is ranked first in the U.S., will fence alongside her in Brazil later this year. The entire Team USA Olympic fencing team Muhammad, Zagunis, another U.S. women’s saber fencer and a replacement athlete for the team event will officially be named on April 11.
Rio will be Muhammad's first Olympics. She failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic games in London after she tore a ligament in her hand.
According to her biography on the Team USA website, Muhammad said she “hopes to make history in 2016 as the first U.S. athlete to compete at the Olympic Games in a hijab.” She told Team USA that she recognized “a lack of minorities in the sport” and said “there were barriers that needed to be broken in women’s saber.”
It's been quite a few days for Ibtihaj. Last week, she clenched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team during an event in Athens, Greece. And not to bury the lede, but President Barack Obama gave her a shout-out on Wednesday while delivering a speech at a mosque in Baltimore.
Obama asked Muhammad to stand up for a round of applause and gave her some words of encouragement. "Bring home the gold... No pressure," he said.
The three-time All-American from Duke University was one of several Muslim community leaders who sat down with Obama for a roundtable discussion about the state of Islam and Islamophobia in the United States before his speech.
Muhammad said she is honored to be representing not only her dreams, but the dreams of fellow Americans. She hopes she can be a role model for future athletes, especially Muslim Americans.
SM/IINA
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