High school girl disqualified from cross country race for wearing hijab

[Karabair]

Outrageous.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/hijab-high-school-race-nike-noor-abukaram-athlete-ohio-a9170076.html

So a girl wearing some cloth on her head, that doesn't affect her performance or anybody else's, is disqualified from a race where she ran her best time of the season, whilst massive testosterone advantage conferred by puberty is not a disqualifier to run, even though other runners who don't have the same testosterone advantage will always be beaten.

Where is sporting fairness?

Disgusting but then that's Trump's America for you. He has basically condoned prejudice against Muslims.

the Independent is a shitty rag.

the OHSAA has said that it is looking at revising its policies so that they specifically allow religious headwear. (I would note here that hijabs are banned even in Muslim countries for judo, for safety reasons)

currently it just says you need a waiver for anything not explicitly permitted.

she has now requested and received one.

the coach was told by the official that she would be disqualified before she ran, but he deliberately didn't tell her till afterwards

the coach says he was aware of the rules but because they hadn't been enforced so far this season he for some reason thought they had changed

so he knew that she needed an exemption, he could email, ask and get her an exemption

but he failed to do so

They should already have rules in place to allow religious dress, if it didn't interfere with the sport in question. The fact that they didn't was racist. She'd been running for three years and never had a problem.

"the Independent is a shitty rag."

Does that somehow interfere with their reporting of this, or its accuracy? I'm not following.

yes their reporting is shit, and inaccurate

they omit the fact that the coach said he knew it was required and that he had failed to do it.

they also omit the fact that the coach chose not to tell her before the race, instead including a false statement that the officials did not inform her

it is not clear if she competed in full OHSAA meets before this season, as her times online only show five races for Sylvania Northview HS. So to what extent she was subject to the rules previously is not clear.

it seems that she goes to an Islamic school where hijab is mandatory, whereas she was competing on the team of a non-Islamic school. Perhaps her non-Muslim coach should have been more sensitive to her needs and obtained the required waiver.

I'm shocked too op

Penis testicles and massive advantage fine.

Head covering. Not fine.

Wtf

You can get special sports hijabs. A lot of runners / boxers etc wear those. Sounds like a failure of the coach to me

Do you have a better link to this story then Shoots then? That would be great.

Yes Sarah, the point seems to being missed somehow in the discussions of the merits of the Independent.

Rules against cloth but no rules against testosterone. It's almost as if the rules are stacked against females.

She's wearing a sports hijab in the video Grumpy with a Nike symbol on it.

she had a sports hijab, she just needed to ask permission to wear it.

she and her allies are busy sending out the batsignal to Nike on social media because it was a Nike hijab so they keep repeating Nike. there are also lots of lawyer/lobby group types floating around. looking for a payout I think.

she finished 38th or there abouts out of 66. there's another race next week where she can wear her hijab. she hasn't lost anything

They chucked her out of a race that everybody else was able to oompete in. She was singled out because of her religion. She has to ask for special permission to take part due to her religious beliefs instead of the governing body making a rule to ensure students in hijabs can run the same way everybody else does.

Of course she's lost out.

A better link perhaps?

see here

www.toledoblade.com/sports/high-school/2019/10/23/cross-country-athlete-disqualified-for-hijab-sylvania-northview/stories/20191024037

and here

www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Athlete.aspx?AID=12721690

note she has separate track and xc profiles, she appears under track for 2018, but nothing for Xc before September (she has run but I don't know if it was in Ohio High School meets)

two athletes were cited, one for multi coloured shorts, her for an unauthorized head covering

she wasn't singled out because of her religion, but because she didn't comply with the uniform code

Hijabs aren't required by Islam, they're worn out of choice. It may be the choice of the men in a family, or the school, or the young woman herself, but nowhere in the Koran does it say the hair, head or face need to be covered.

It's about the uniform isn't it? She doesn't HAVE to wear it. It could well be unsafe if too hot, a pin falls out, she trips over.

I don't agree with head covering for women and girls. It occurs in a lot of patriarchal religions, including christianity. However if women and girls are doing it because of what they believe are religious reasons there's no reason for them to be discriminated against or treated differently unless the headcovering would interfere in an activity in some way.

The regulations definitely need to be changed so they aren't singling out girls in hijabs. They also need to be changed so that girls don't come up against other special girls with a massive testosterone advantage.

This doesn't really seem obviously a discrimination thing to me. It seems like when the rules were created head covering wasn't really an issue to consider, now it is so they are looking at a rule change, and in the meantime they are prepared to accommodate.

There are absolutely instances where this stuff is a problem, France, or Quebec come to mind, but it's not clear to me that this is one.

IT is pretty obvious discrimination to me, especially in light of their treatment of male-bodied athletes

Generally I have little sympathy for anyone claiming they need special treatment for their religious beliefs and generally I would support a ban on wearing niqab or burka.

Here however I can't see the slightest justification for telling a competitor they can't wear something on their head or their shorts are the wrong colour. It isn't as if either of those things gives them an unfair advantage over other competitors- beyond possibly making them mentally at ease. I don't see any justification for making a special dispensation to allow a Muslim athlete to wear a hijab but banning another athlete from wearing a beanie hat should they for some unfathomable reason want to. If either want to wear some peculiar headgear which has enhancing effect on performance- fine- go for it.

There are sound reasons for not allowing athletes to use special performance enhancing kit unless that kit is available to all. Wasn't there a problem with swimsuits where improved times were due to the aerodynamics of the costume , not the athlete? But a head covering in a race?

If either want to wear some peculiar headgear which has no enhancing effect on performance- fine- go for it.

It could well be unsafe if too hot, a pin falls out, she trips over.

Never did Fauja Singh, "The Turbaned Tornado" any harm. He ran his last full marathon at 101 years of age.

I don't see how a hijab or the colour of shorts can enhance a person's performance. It's extremely unfair to have disqualified her. Especially when men get to compete in women's sports!!

Rules against cloth but no rules against testosterone. It's almost as if the rules are stacked against females

Not a surprise is it. I mean women lose out either way.men take oestrogen say the magic words and get to compete against women. Women take testosterone to transition and still get to compete with women ..three words make it not doping doing perfectly fine.

Alot of these rules are just a way to he sexist and racist in.plain.sight and not only get away with it but have people actively enforce it and agree with it.

I'd understand if it was a jet pack. But it's a head covering that benefits no one. Its up there with shoe laces and socks and a logo. Neither make any difference to anyone .

Regardless of opinions on head coverings I dont think.eliminating those who chose to wear them from participating in every aspect of their lives is the way to make a.point.

It's not ok for men to tell women what to wear and it's not for us to tell women what to wear either

So, it was OK for Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe to wear headbands, but not OK for a young Muslim girl to wear a scarf?
I am totally against the Burkha, but this scarf is not going to offend anyone.

Of course she lost out. Doesn't dignity, pride come into this. The decision was borne out of prejudice and was totally embarrassing for her. Leave women and girls alone and let them decide what they want to and don't want to wear. There's bigger issues facing women's sport right now.

@Gran22

Hair covering IS required by Islam as was common in the history of all Abrahamic religions (e.g. see historical pictures of Mary with hair covered). It is niqabs (face covering) which are optional. It's not just the Koran which is followed (and not literally, you need a learned person to interpret it in context), the Prophet's sayings (sunnah) are adhered too as well.