in 2015 when I would travel to different
places around the world competing for
Team USA I would find myself like most
athletes nervous but my nervousness and
my anxiety would manifest itself into
this debilitating fatigue I would get on
the fencing strip and feel really really
tired
imagine having to compete when really
all you want to do is take a nap to say
2015 when the Olympic qualifiers began I
had a decision to make I could allow the
negativity and the different obstacles
that had been placed in front of me to
affect me but I chose happiness but how
did I get here
I didn’t always imagine myself going to
the Olympics it wasn’t until after I
graduated from college that I even began
to compete internationally I remember
never thinking about the Olympic Games
as a kid and if you would have told me
as a kid I would go on to become the
first Muslim woman to represent the
United States and come home with an
Olympic medal I probably would have
called you crazy grew up in may point of
Jersey I’m a half an hour outside of New
York City
my mom’s schoolteacher my dad’s police
officer and and our family sports were
just very integral part of our
upbringing my parents saw a sport not
just as an opportunity to keep us
physically active but also they knew
where we were after school and before
they got home from work
we weren’t really given the option of
whether or not we would play sport but
rather which sport we would play so
there’s really early memories as a kid
having our town Recreation book placed
in front of me and I got to choose
whichever sport I wanted to try I played
tennis I ran track I played volleyball
and for me in each of these different
sports
my mom always had to change the
a forum for me as a Muslim kid who
covers my arms and my legs
I always felt out of uniform from my
teammates I spent a lot of time in
sporting goods stores trying to find you
know long sleeves or long pants that
matched our school colors and I remember
at 12 years old I was with my mom we’re
in the car were parked at a stoplight
and in my town the local high school
there’s these huge picture windows and
you can see into the school cafeteria I
saw from the road these athletes inside
they had on long white pants they had on
long white jackets and at the time you
know they had on these these helmets
well we thought were helmets and at the
time my mom’s like I no idea what this
sport is but when you get to high school
I want you to try it out
and that’s literally how I got into
fencing when I started competing and
fencing it was this unique opportunity
for me not to just be physically active
but fencing uniquely accommodated my
religious beliefs it allowed me for the
first time in my life to truly feel a
part of the team I was in uniform with
my teammates even though on my fencing
team I was the only african-american and
one of the only minorities on the team I
truly love my team as many of amazing
opportunities that were placed in front
of me through the sport of fencing I
also had these weird obstacles that
would happen to me as a kid I remember
all my fencing team was the first time I
had ever been referred to by the n-word
one of my teammates called me an n-word
and I remember my coach not handling the
situation very well this same coach
referred to me and my best friend on the
team who happened to be Jewish as m1 and
j-1 I remember being at a local fencing
competition and again kind of getting
used to being singled out for being
different a parent came to me and she
said did you know that they’re black
people who fence in New York City and I
remember being pretty upset like oh no
she didn’t right but I remember going
home and telling
um there are black people who fence in
New York so we got on Google the Google
did and we found the Peter Westbrook
foundation a non-profit started by
six-time Olympian who wanted to expose
minority youth people from underserved
communities to the sport of fencing it
was the first time in my life I saw
fencing at the elite level
I saw minorities to be successful in the
sport of fencing world champions
Olympians Olympic medalists it allowed
me to kind of unconsciously graph my
dreams and aspirations within the sport
of fencing for me I always saw fencing
as a means to an end it was an
opportunity for me being one of five
kids to go to school on a scholarship
that was my plan at 13 years old I
didn’t want to go one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars into debt so I want to
use fencing to go to a good university
so what happens I received an academic
scholarship to go to school but I was
recruited up to Duke University where I
graduated I went on to become a
three-time all-american at Duke when I
graduated from school I was studying for
the LSAT looking for a job and I
remember looking at Team USA and
thinking it’s not very diverse I didn’t
see anyone who looked like me on Team
USA there has never been a woman of
color on the United States woman sabre
team and I feel like I had this
opportunity even though I had never been
to a Nash international competition I
had a really you know abysmal national
ranking no international ranking it’s
kind of a shot in the dark to qualify
for a US team but I took the opportunity
I changed coaches I ended up making my
first team in 2010 and I’ve been on the
team ever since and the Muslim community
is kind of cool because being one of the
only Muslim women involved in sport at
the elite level
I’ve always been referred to as an
Olympian and I remember I was at an
event and 2012 right after the 2012
Olympics and a little girl came to me
and she was asking for for an autograph
and for a photo and she referred to me
as an Olympian she said are you are you
the muslim olympic fencer
and before I could tell her that I
wasn’t an Olympian I remember my friend
saying she’s not an Olympian don’t worry
this girl is not a friend anymore really
she’s not but I remember in that moment
I wanted an Olympic team more for this
little girl and more for my younger self
than I’d ever wanted an Olympic team in
my life I wanted to change the narrative
for Muslim girls for Muslims in general
for african-americans for minorities for
anyone who had ever been told no who
never felt represented in a particular
space who didn’t feel like they were
welcome in a particular space qualifying
for the United States Olympic team was
one of the hardest things I’ve ever done
in my life but I remember in April of
2015 when our qualifiers began I made
this conscious decision that I would be
happy I wouldn’t allow any of the
negative things I would hear I wouldn’t
allow the people who would come in my
life who had told me that they didn’t
believe in my journey they didn’t
believe in my abilities that I would
never be an Olympian I didn’t allow that
to seep in into affect me I believed in
myself I believed in my journey I
remember telling myself that I was a
champion over and over and over not
because you know I was in every
competition but because I needed that
energy and needed to be positive in
order to make my dreams a reality
when I qualified for the Olympic team in
2016 and by the grace of God came home
with an Olympic medal it was one of the
greatest honors of my life to represent
my country to represent my hometown to
represent my family my friends to
represent all of you at the Olympic
Games for Team USA if you would have
told me 30 years ago that I’d be in this
position probably would have called you
crazy if I had allowed other people to
dictate my journey for me if I had a lot
of misconceptions about Who I am as a
woman as an african-american as a Muslim
to affect how I felt about myself to a
like my journey I wouldn’t be standing
here before you today I tell young
people this all the time in particular
our girls you have to believe in
yourself first you have to believe in
your journey and never allow anyone else
to dictate your journey for you
everything you need to be successful is
already inside you just have to take a
leap of faith and believe you can have
anything you want in this world if you
make it a source of good and you make it
and you make it an opportunity to give
back to the community thank you so much [Applause]