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| MUHAMMAD Ibtihaj |
| NOC |
United States
|
| Gender | Women |
| Born |
04 Dec 1985
in Maplewood, NJ, USA
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| Height | 1.71 m |
| Weight | 68 kg |
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Further Personal Information |
| Residence |
United States |
| Languages |
Arabic, English |
| Higher education |
Cultural Studies, International Relations - Duke University: Durham, NC, USA |
Sport Specific Information |
| When and where did you begin this sport? |
She took up fencing at age 12 at New Jersey Fencing Alliance in Maplewood, NJ, United States of America. |
| Why this sport? |
When she saw her high school fencing team training she immediately wanted to join. "Because they were fully covered, my mother suggested that I should try it out when I got to high school. As a Muslim female, the sport was uniquely accommodating. My religion requires that my body be fully covered and fencing did just that." |
| Club / Team |
Peter Westbrook Foundation: New York, NY, USA |
| Name of coach |
Ed Korfanty [national], POL; Akhi Spencer-El [national], USA |
| Handedness |
Right |
General Interest |
| Nicknames |
Ibti (teamusa.org, 08 Nov 2010) |
| Memorable sporting achievement |
Winning a bronze medal in the team sabre event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (Twitter profile, 07 Jul 2017) |
| Injuries |
She tore a ligament in her hand that caused her to miss the 2012 Olympic Games in London. It took her six months to recover from the injury. (teamusa.org, 09 May 2013) |
| Awards and honours |
In 2016 Time Magazine included her in their list of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. (bbc.co.uk, 08 Aug 2016)
During her time at Duke University she was a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA] All-American honours recipient. (usfencing.org, 10 Jul 2011) |
| Famous relatives |
Her sister Faizah is a two-time state champion in individual sabre in the United States of America. (wsj.com, 24 Jun 2011) |
| Other information |
MEETING POLITICIANS
In February 2012 she was invited by then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to serve as part of the US Department of State's Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports. In 2016 she took part in a demonstration fencing bout with then US First Lady Michelle Obama in Times Square in New York, NY, United States of America. Earlier in the year, she had also met then President Barack Obama at a mosque in Baltimore, MD, United States of America. (nj.com, 28 Apr 2016; yahoo.com, 03 Feb 2016; teamusa.org, 09 May 2013; cosmopolitan.com, 03 Aug 2016)
BUSINESS OWNER
She runs her own fashion shop named Loella by Ibtihaj Muhammad. The business specialises in women's clothing. She initially began making dresses because she had nothing to wear for an event she had to attend. "There weren't things that me or my friends would wear. We wanted something that was not just modest, we wanted something that was affordable." (Instagram profile, 08 Mar 2016; louellashop.com, 2016; usatoday.com, 22 Apr 2015) |
| Olympic Games |
| 2016 |
3 |
Team Sabre |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| World Championships |
| 2017 |
Final 7-8 |
Team Sabre |
Leipzig, Germany |
| 2014 |
1 |
Team Sabre |
Kazan, Russia |
| 2011 |
3 |
Team Sabre |
Catania, Italy |
| 2010 |
4 |
Team Sabre |
Paris, France |
| Pan American Championships |
| 2017 |
2 |
Team Sabre |
Montreal, Canada |
| 2017 |
Quarterfinal |
Individual Sabre |
Montreal, Canada |
| 2016 |
1 |
Individual Sabre |
Panama, Panama |
| 2016 |
1 |
Team Sabre |
Panama, Panama |
| 2015 |
1 |
Team Sabre |
Santiago, Chile |
| 2015 |
5 |
Individual Sabre |
Santiago, Chile |
| 2014 |
3 |
Individual Sabre |
San José, Costa Rica |
| 2013 |
1 |
Team Sabre |
Cartagena, Colombia |
| 2013 |
7 |
Individual Sabre |
Cartagena, Colombia |
| 2012 |
5 |
Individual Sabre |
Cancún, Mexico |
| 2010 |
1 |
Team Sabre |
San José, Costa Rica |
| 2010 |
3 |
Individual Sabre |
, |
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