Islamic supremacism comes to the Olympics. *sigh*
Once again, anywhere Western law and Islamic law conflict, it is always Western law that must give way -- and worse still, it is the non-Muslims who do the bidding of the Islamic supremacists.
Kulsoom Abdullah, a 35-year-old weightlifter born in the United States, wants to wear the hijab instead of the regulation uniform that is required. She took up the sport and qualified to compete in her first national competition last year but refused to wear the required garb.
So now the Muslim Brotherhood group CAIR is going to sue to change the dedicated rules of sport. One weightlifter lamented, "While I sympathize with the reason she wants an exception, this is an issue about the integrity of the sport. I have competed in both powerlifting and olympic lifting. Supportive equipment that increases the weight lifted is a BIG problem in powerlifting. Squat suits can add up to 200 pound to a competition squat. Olympic lifting has worked hard to keep supportive gear out of the sport. The reason for the tight rules on uniform is to keep out supportive gear and make it easy to catch people who try to cheat and use it. Something as simply as bunching up material beind the knees or an extra tight leotard under the uniform can increase the weight lifted and the consistency of a lifter. This is especially true at lower weights (under 120kilos)."
And do read the comments on this article. Few sympathizers, if any. Folks are fed up.
Woman weightlifter fights to compete in hijab YahooA 35-year-old weightlifter is battling to be able to compete in the sport she loves while wearing a hijab instead of the body-hugging uniform that's required.
Kulsoom Abdullah, who was born in the United States to Pakistani parents, discovered weightlifting at her gym, Crossfit, in Atlanta in 2008. She entered her first open competition last year, and was thrilled to find out that she was actually pretty good in the competitive sport. She can lift 70 kilos (about 154 pounds) to her shoulders, and 60 kilos (or about 132 pounds) over her head, in a move called the "clean-and-jerk." Last December, she qualified for the American Open Weightlifting Championships, which would have been her first national competition.
But when her coaches asked whether she would be able to wear her modified uniform--which covers everything but her face, hands, and feet--the organizers told told them no.
Abdullah talked to some lawyer friends, who told her that other athletes had won their bids to wear different clothing for religious reasons. So she tried again, this time personally writing to USA Weightlifting with her request, and asking the group if it could compromise on a uniform.
"It is like saying, if you are different, you can not compete," she wrote on her web site. "I am not asking people to change, I am just asking to participate and be able to dress the way I do."
Now, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, is taking up Abdullah's cause, and trying to lobby weightlifting organizations to revise their rules in time for her to compete in a July national competition. CAIR officials are arguing that USA Weightlifting is in violation of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, which forbids sports bodies from discriminating based on "race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin." Not allowing Abdullah to wear her hijab is discrimination, CAIR maintains.
USA Weightlifting told The Lookout in a statement that "uniforms must not cover either the knees or the elbows because the judges must be able to see that the lifter has locked out his or her knees and elbows in order for the lift to be deemed completed." The IWF will discuss Abdullah's request at a June 26 meeting in Penang, Malaysia. United States Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Jones says the group is committed to being "inclusive" but that it's up to the IWF to decide if the modified uniform would provide a "competitive advantage."
While the weightlifting powers-that-be have decided against her for now, Abdullah says she never feels out of place when training six days a week or when in open competitions with other lifters.
Her religous garb outfit does not allow the judges to verify that she has completed a move. So she can't compete. It would give her an unfair advantage. End of story. But no, Muslims believe in supremacist advantages, but that doesn't mean we have to submit. This is exactly the same supremacist strategy used by Muslim Wal-Mart cashiers and Target cashiers who won't handle halal meat, or the Muslim woman suing Disney to change the dress code they have on place in 1957: they sue to impose Islam on the secular marketplace.
Muslim Brotherhood-tied CAIR has persuaded the US Olympic committee to push for change. I wonder how much that cost the Hamas-tied group? And who took the payola?
CAIR Bulletin: U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE ASKS FOR REVIEW OF HIJAB POLICY -
USOC to advocate on behalf of Muslim weightlifter at international meeting
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/10/11) -- Following intervention by CAIR, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) says it will present the case of a Muslim weightlifter in Georgia who wishes to compete wearing modest Islamic attire (hijab) to an international body meeting June 26 in Malaysia.
CAIR says the USOC will ask a committee of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) to review a policy preventing the Muslim athlete, 35-year-old Kulsoom Abdullah (http://liftingcovered.com/), from competing in the USA Weightlifting Senior Nationals to be held this July in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
USA Weightlifting is a United States Olympic Committee National Governing Body (NGB). Officials of USA Weightlifting cite IWF rules in barring Abdullah from competition.
The IWF committee's recommendation will be presented to the body's executive board, which meets the next day in Penang, Malaysia.
“We appreciate the United States Olympic Committee's prompt action in support of religious diversity in sport and will monitor the results of the meetings in Malaysia,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “We believe there is always a way to maintain the legitimate rules of any sport, while offering athletes reasonable religious accommodation.”
Awad thanked all those who contacted the USOC and the other parties involved in the issue to express support for the rights of athletes of all faiths who wish to wear modest attire. We hope to see you there !
