Spain's IOC member Marisol Casado says Turkey has removed women wearing headscarves in bid

The head of the Turkish bid, Ugur Erdener, speaks during the presentation of the Candidate Cities for the 2020 Olympic Games during the Association of National Olympic Committees meeting in Switzerland. Picture: AP Source: AP

A SPANISH IOC member questioned why Turkish bid leaders have failed to show images of women wearing headscarves in Istanbul's presentations for the 2020 Olympics.

While declining to answer questions about security in Turkey, Marisol Casado instead raised the issue of women who wear head coverings in the predominantly Muslim country.

Istanbul is competing against Madrid and Tokyo for the 2020 Games, which will be decided by the IOC on Sept. 7 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The three cities made closed-door presentations to IOC members last week in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"There was one question that was never addressed, and that is the number of women who wear the veil," Ms Casado said at a news conference for Madrid's bid.

"There was never an image of a woman wearing a veil in any of their presentation videos."

Turkey, a country that sits on both the Asian and European continents, is governed by secular laws. It would be the first mainly Muslim country to host the Olympics if Istanbul wins in its fifth attempt.

"Anyone who visits Istanbul will be aware that around 30 per cent of women there tend to wear veils," Ms Casado said. "People who live in Arab nations are looking for something that will be more representative of their culture."

Ms Casado's remark was reminiscent of a faux pas made by Tokyo Governor Noiki Onose in April when he compared his city to Istanbul by saying that the Turkish city was underdeveloped and less equipped to host the games than Tokyo.

Mr Inose was also quoted as saying "the only thing (Muslim countries) share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other, and they have classes."

The governor later apologised.

Under IOC bid rules, candidate cities are prohibited from criticizing rivals.

Ms Casado spoke as Spanish IOC members gave an assessment of how Madrid's bid was shaping up.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., accompanied by Jose Perurena and Ms Casado, said Madrid's bid for the 2020 Olympics broke a long tradition of overspending to host the event.

"It's a new model," Mr Samaranch said. "The Madrid Games would be good for the Olympic movement" because it puts forward the idea that games can be organized without massive spending.

Mr Samaranch said it was now more important to "use our brains instead of the wallet." He said hosting the games would also help Spanish sports and the country's economy as a whole. He said that Madrid had "explained clearly that we want it and we need it."

Madrid has sought to present what it has labeled as a low-spend, responsible model, respectful of the 27 per cent unemployment rate that the economic crisis has caused.

Both Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Economy Minister Luis de Guindos have stated that the games posed no financial risk to Spain. Madrid has stressed that 80 per cent of its proposed venues are ready and it will only need $US1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) to complete and burnish its Olympic infrastructure.

"We have limited funds," Mr Samaranch said. "Our presentations have had to be very short and sometimes frustrating because of that."

Istanbul has defended its $US19.4 billion infrastructure budget while Tokyo boasts a reserve fund of $US4.5 billion to be used for the Olympics.
Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/more-sports/spains-ioc-member-marisol-casado-says-turkey-has-removed-women-wearing-headscarves-in-bid/story-fnibbyyv-1226677414888 

Olympics-Hijab no hurdle for Muslim sportswomen as bans eased

Here, Mohammad Abbas discusses advancements made in the world of sport which will now better enable more Muslim women, who want to cover their hair whilst participating in sports, to enter sport. The piece is generally quite interesting and is amongst a hand full of articles that I have come across that actually alludes to the stresses and strains of 'skimpy' sports attire as a 'problem' for other women (not just Muslim women as it too often portrayed). What I am disgruntled by, however, is the actual title which implies that the hijab was a hurdle. Of course this naturally leads me to respond: 'was Hijab' a hurdle for Muslim sportswomen, or was it a prevailing logic which persistently and categorically chose to view the Hijab as 'problematic' and 'out-of-place' in sport the real hurdle? I recall having conversations with many of my sports students about the idea of a sport hijab and I also recall with dismay their reluctance to allow it to be worn (for a number of reasons, the most commonly cited one of course being that of health and safety and of uniform regulations). Yet when I cited that the same uniform policies have allowed players to wear caps, and turbans - even glasses on a few occasions - then, they really do begin to ponder, but still press ahead with the view that 'religion should have no place in sport'. I do not veil and am a Muslim woman, but can empathise with those women who want to wear it and have in my work, allowed them to express their identities and their religion through the use of bandanna's and colourful scarves. Yet, I am amazed at how it is that a sporting word - as advanced as it now is - could not view the idea of a sports hijab as a new and creative invention. And Muslim women were re-designing and wearing such attire long before an official regulator rubber-stamped it as 'safe'. Why are we not celebrating or commending their creativity and intuitiveness? Why have we not reported these women as being central to the revolutions that are taking place in the world of sport, and only see the rubber-stamping as progress?

Aug 1 (Reuters) - Headscarf-wearing Muslim women are making strides at the Olympic Games, a year after the Iranian women's soccer team broke down in tears at having to withdraw from a qualifying match because they wore hijabs.

Worn under a fencing mask, wrapped tightly in an elasticated bun for weightlifting or styled into a cap for shooting, the controversial headgear is finally winning acceptance from sporting associations.

This week judo sports authorities and the Saudi Olympic Committee confirmed they had reached an agreement allowing a Saudi judoka to compete with her hair covered, and last month soccer's rule makers also lifted their ban on the hijab.

The International Judo Federation had initially said Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani could not compete in a headscarf, which would have been a huge blow to aspiring Saudi sportswomen: she and runner Sarah Attar are the country's first women to compete at any Olympics.

"This agreement shows that being a modest Muslim woman is no barrier to taking part in sport. It shows the inclusiveness of the Olympic spirit," said Razan Baker, spokeswoman for the Saudi Olympic Committee.

Islamic states Brunei and Qatar have also sent female athletes to the Games for the first time.

The modest forms of dress demanded by more conservative societies or chosen by more pious women have long been a brake on female participation in sport, not only for Muslims but also for women of other faiths.

"Many Muslim women both in Britain and around the world are excluded or discouraged from taking up sports owing to their desire to maintain stricter standards of modesty than sports clothes allow," said Emma Tarlo of the department of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

"And Muslims are not alone. A number of women from Hindu, Sikh, and orthodox Jewish backgrounds as well as people with weight issues are put off swimming by the skimpiness of most existing styles of swimwear," she added.

ISLAMIC SPORTSWEAR

Luckily, a number of designers are turning their attention to women keen to take part in sport while wearing modest attire.

In the Netherlands, designer Cindy van den Bremen has designed a range of headwear for sporty Muslim women dubbed "capsters".

"The concept is based on the idea to give Muslim girls and their gym teachers in the Netherlands a safe alternative for the traditional hijab to wear during gym class," Bremen says on her website.

Online vendor thehijabshop.com carries capsters under its "sporting range" under the categories "skate", "aerobics", "outdoor" and "tennis", and touts the headgear as designed not to shift or tear during physical activity.

British-based Modestly Active's line of Islamic sports gear includes swimwear and martial arts, basketball and soccer kits, which the company says have been specially designed with the latest sports technology to be breathable and durable.

Ismail Sacranie said he and his wife founded the company in 2007 after designing special clothing for their sports-mad daughters. Since then the response had been "phenomenal", with orders from all over the world.

"We saw the restrictions that were faced by our own children. I have three daughters of my own, they're just like any other teenagers, and why should a piece of fabric restrict them?" he said.

"My daughters were outraged and annoyed beyond comprehension at the fact that simply because somebody's covering their hair they're alienated," he added.

Now one of his daughters, inspired by the British Olympic female soccer team's wins over New Zealand and Brazil, is determined to join the national soccer team herself, where she will be able to wear her headscarf.

"It's a huge statement for mankind to overcome these kind of barriers, and let the enthusiasm and professionalism of a person speak, rather than what they're wearing," Sacranie said. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

http://www.reuters.com/subjects/olympics-2012 

Interview with Kohistani by MWIS Blog available on Youtube

Here is an interview with Tahmina Kohistani, Aghani sprinter and the only female Olympian from Afghanistan participated London Olympics. The interview was conducted during London 2012 by Sertaç Sehlikoglu, MWIS blog.

This video is part of short documentary series which are produced in collaboration with Maslaha, a UK-based NGO working for Muslim communities in the UK and Ms Zeynep Yildiz, an independent filmmaker.

The interview is also part of my research project.

Photo Credit: www.telegraph.co.uk 

Interview with Hashemi by MWIS Blog available on Youtube

Here is an interview with Faezeh Hashemi, Iranian activist and leading figure known with her works on women's involvement in sports in Iran, conducted during London 2012 by Sertaç Sehlikoglu, MWIS blog. These short documentary series are produced in collaboration with Maslaha, a UK-based NGO working for Muslim communities in the UK and Ms Zeynep Yildiz, an independent filmmaker.
The interview is also part of my research project.

Alan Hubbard: Will the IOC remain largely a preserve of the rich, the venerable – and the male?

In support of a leading figure, El Moutawakel

A visit to Athens this week confirmed the view that the future of London's Olympic Stadium must involve a football club. Without the presence of the round ball game the stadium which gloriously hosted the Olympic Games of 2004 would now be as much an old ruin as the Acropolis or the Parthenon.

Shabby and run down it may be, like the Greek economy, but at least it is in regular use, then Greek Super league clubs Panathinaikos and AEK sharing it on alternate weekends. Without football it would be as much a white elephant as several other now derelict venues that helped produce such a memorable Games eight years ago.

This has to be the lesson for London, which is why the mayor is wrong when he declares "the Stadium will have a future in any event" should the new deal with West Ham United not work out.

Oh no it won't, Boris.

Should that happen the Greeks have a word for it. Chaos.

The Greeks have words for many things of course, and some date back to the decrees of Ancient Greece and the birth of the original Olympic Games.

A few days spent in the sadly impoverished cradle of both the ancient and modern Games brought reflections on how far they have  come since the days when women were barred from competing in- or even watching - the Olympics.

London demonstrated this year that in almost all respects sexism, like racism, has been firmly extinguished that equality is now the Olympic buzzword.

Although not quite.

For all its attempts at modernisation the International Olympic Committee (IOC) remains largely a preserve of the rich, the venerable – and the male.

Jacques Rogge at the opening of the Executive Board meeting in Lausanne earlier this week

A few women members now tread the corridors of power but a high heel has yet to step purposefully through the glass ceiling that covers the IOC headquarters in Lausanne.

By that I mean no woman has ever come close to being considered a candidate for the most prestigious office in world sport – the Presidency of the IOC itself.

But could this be about to change next year, when Jacques Rogge steps down after eight years in which he has overseen many commendable changes in the way Olympic sport is governed.

Who will succeed him?

The thought occurs that if Lord Coe was currently an IOC member the question might be superfluous as he surely would be as much a shoo-in as he was for the chair of the British Olympic Association (BOA) - installed by acclamation after the stupendous success of London 2012 and the personal global esteem that now engulfs him.

Next time, maybe.

Instead, while none have yet formally declared their intention to run for the election to be held at the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires next September, we have mainly the usual suspects who, as they say on those TV talent show polls, are, in no particular order:

Thomas Bach, 59, long-serving vice-president, former German Olympic fencing champion and loyal henchman to Rogge, who is believed to be the strongest candidate and current favourite.

Germany's Thomas Bach is favourite to take up the IOC Presidency

Richard Carrion, 60, a Puerto Rican banker and financial expert who chairs the IOC Finance Commission.

Denis Oswald, 65, former Swiss rower well-known to London for his diligent overseeing of the 2012 Coordination Commission.

Wu Ching-kuo (aka Dr C K Wu), 66, ambitious reformist Taiwanese head of international boxing body AIBA whose latest edict is to remove the word amateur from the sport in attempt to control all aspects of boxing.

Ng Ser Miang, 63, Chinese-born Singaporean diplomat and former Olympic sailor who won plaudits for organising then 2005 IOC session where London won the 2012 bid, and hosting the successful Youth Olympics in Singapore.

All men of a certain age, and one disadvantage Messrs Carrion, Wu and Ng are that they are non-Europeans. Only one of the nine IOC presidents of the modern Games – the awful American "Slaverty" Avery Brundage- has come from outside Europe.

Denis Oswald (left) presided the IOC's Coordination Commission for London 2012

Time for a change of Continent?

Unlikely. But nowhere near as titanic a turn-up as a change of sex.

For I hear there is growing campaign to get the woman who arguably has done more than anyone for female emancipation in Olympic sport to stand for the IOC Presidency.

Nawal El Moutawakel was never shy of putting her best foot forward as a runner, pioneering the historic breakthrough when winning the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

In doing she became not only the first Moroccan but the first African, Arab and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

Although she had been an accomplished runner, the victory of El Moutawakel, then a student at Iowa State University in the USA, shocked her nation.

Previously she had been verbally abused, and even spat upon as she ran barefoot through the streets of Casablanca.

But attitudes changed sharply when King Hassan telephoned his congratulations, and declared that all girls born the day of her victory were to be named in her honour.

Nawal El Moutawakelof Morocco made history in 1984 when she became the first Moroccan, African, Arab and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal

Subsequently she became a high-flying businesswoman, then Morocco's Minister for Sport and an IOC Executive Board member, perhaps best known for leading the Evaluation Commission for the 2012 Games.

Very much an Anglophile, she always carried a torch for London - literally so when running a leg of the torch relay Westminster this year.

Coe always believed she was instrumental in helping sway then decision London's way in 2005.

At 50 she remains the iconic a role model for women's sport, for which she has consistently broadened the parameters.

Fourteen years ago she organised the first Moroccan women's 10 kilometres race in Casablanca which now attracts more than 30,000 participants annually. All women. The men - husbands, brothers and neighbours - now cheer from the windows and roadsides. It is a remarkable display of sorority in a predominantly Muslim country.

Could Nawal El Moutawakel who is such a iconic a role model for women's sport, take over from Jacques Rogge?

"Sport has given me so much that whatever I give back it will never be enough," she has said

I hope El Moutawakel puts on her running shoes again – this time for the top job in global sport. Madame President.

An African head of the IOC – and a woman to boot?

Now that really would propel sport into the 21st century.

And the Greeks have a word – or two- for it, Καλὴ τύχη

That means Good, Luck.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire

Source: http://www.insidethegames.biz/blogs/1012004-alan-hubbard-will-the-ioc-remain-largely-a-preserve-of-the-rich-the-venerable-and-the-male 

London mayor thanks Muslims for successful Olympics

By Murtaza Ali Shah

LONDON: London Mayor Boris Johnson has thanked thousands of Muslim Londoners for helping to deliver the successful London Olympics through full participation and for bringing pride to Britain.

The newly-elected London mayor invited leading representatives from London’s Muslim communities to an evening reception at City Hall to celebrate Eidul Azha as well as to thank the Muslims for winning medals, volunteering and being part of the preparations and celebrations of the games.

“This year has been amazing for Britain due to the Olympics. We saw Muslims of all ages took part in these games as London team ambassadors, game-makers, volunteers who helped us to deliver the greatest Olympics games ever. There were Muslims everywhere. There were Muslim athletes who brought sheer amazement to the games through their courage and endurance,” Johnson told the audience.

Boris said the greatest moment of the games came when Mohammad Farah won two medals for Britain and united the whole country in a way never seen before. “This is a guy who came to London at the age of 8 from Somalia, saw terrible times in Somalia, he is now a national hero, he’s a Muslim and it’s a fantastic thing. There was a unanimous support from this country for a young Muslim. This place has changed in our lifetime and it has changed for better.”

He said that lot of work needs to be done to fight Islamophobia and improve attitudes towards Muslims and the legacy of the 2012 Olympics is aimed at helping this process. He said the arrears around the Olympics venue, where thousands of Pakistanis live, is undergoing a massive regeneration but at the larger scale the legacy will result into a cohesive culture, improved transport and better services for all. He said he would like to see “more participation in sport in our city by young Muslim boys and girls”.

Senior Foreign Office minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi told the audience that Muslims had played their role in Britain’s national life starting from the World War 1 and continue to do so with passion. She said Pakistanis were prominent in the wars that were fought for Britain but they were also instrumental in reviving and rebuilding Britain’s economy in late 60s and 70s.

She pointed to the problems of Islamophobia and racism nearly 3 million Muslims in Britain face and thought that this country can become a better place when these challenges can be dealt with. She said she “fought” for her job in the FCO which also makes her responsible in relation to faith communities and how faith communities can be helpful in the progress of “our multi-cultural society”.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-140457-London-mayor-thanks-Muslims-for-successful-Olympics

Qatar Women Hope To Make History

DOHA, Qatar, Dec 23, (AP): Three weeks before the Arab Games in Doha, Qatari sports officials called Nada Mohammed Wafa to tell her she would be competing in the Middle East’s biggest sporting event. Surprised - and a bit scared - the 17-year-old swimmer replied: “Oh wow! Sure!” Wafa, who had only competed in school-level events until then, trained hard to make up for the short time she had before making history by becoming the first woman on Qatar’s national swim team. “It’s a good feeling, but it’s also very lonely,” Wafa said. “It’s just me, myself and I.” Wafa may be Qatar’s lone female swimmer, but she is part of a group of emerging athletes in the conservative Muslim country that hopes to send women to the Olympics for the first time in London next year. And if Wafa’s phone rings in five months or somebody confirms her name is on the list, she would be delighted to go and compete.

Nada Mohammed Wafa

“I’d be over the moon,” Wafa said. Along with Saudi Arabia and Brunei, Qatar has never sent female athletes to the Olympics. Last year, the International Olympic Committee urged the three countries to end the practice of sending all-male teams to the games, hoping that naming and shaming would do more for female athletes than banning their nations from the Olympics. While Saudi Arabia’s plans to send women to the London Games remain wrapped in secrecy, Qatar is feverishly working to escape the stigma that comes with failing to include women. Over the past decade, the tiny but rich Gulf country has been targeting sports as a vehicle to showcase its global aspirations. Last year, it became the first Arab country to win the right to host the World Cup in 2022. And Qatar’s bid for the 2020 Olympics adds the pressure to include women on the teams in London.

Qatar Olympic Committee President Sheik Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said female athletes have been competing in international tournaments for the past three years, including last year’s Youth Olympics in Singapore.
The only reason women were not included for the 2008 Beijing Games is because they didn’t qualify in any sport, Sheik Saoud said. He added that Qatar is talking to the IOC about sending female athletes to the games next year on wild-card invitations.
“That’s the thing with the Olympics. They can’t go if they don’t qualify,” Sheik Saoud said. “It’s not about us being unwilling to send women to the tournament. But it takes time to prepare athletes to compete on the international level.”

It also takes time to change mindsets in a deeply conservative society. Qatar follows the Wahhabi branch of Islam, a strict version that predominates in Saudi Arabia.
There are no written laws in Qatar - or Saudi Arabia - that ban and restrict women from participating in sports. Rather, the stigma of female athletes is rooted in conservative traditions and religious views that hold giving freedom of movement to women would make them vulnerable to sins.
Unlike in Saudi Arabia, where women are still banned from driving, much has changed in Qatar since the country began an ambitious process of opening up to the world, largely through hosting high-profile sporting events in tennis, soccer, and track and field.

But getting women to compete in Qatar is quite a different thing than sending then to compete abroad.
“It’s unusual in this culture,” said Hana al-Badr, a 20-year-old handball player who has seen the change since she joined Qatar’s first female handball team four years ago. “My teachers and my friends in school use to look at me and say, ‘You are a girl and you are traveling to play outside? How can your family let you?’ But now it’s become normal.”
Wafa, the swimmer, didn’t win any medals at the Arab Games but succeeded in improving her times.
She beat her best in the 50-meter breast stroke by 3 seconds and missed the finals by a second. She also improved her time in the 50 freestyle by a second, beat her personal best in the 100 breast stroke by 15 seconds and was happy with her time of 1 minute, 10 seconds in the 100 freestyle.
“It was amazing experience,” Wafa said. “I had so little time to train, but I finished seconds away from champions. I am so happy with my results.”

Qatar has invested heavily in women’s sports over the past decade, introducing special programs for girls in school and organizing training camps at home and abroad for female athletes with talent and ambition to compete on the international level.
In the past three years, al-Badr and her teammates played in three international tournaments, including last year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, where 90 Qatari women competed in a half-dozen disciplines.
Qatar also started a six-team women’s soccer league last year and hosted a Gulf basketball tournament. The shining moment for Qatar’s female athletes came at last year’s inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, where two qualified to compete.

Challenge
“It’s a big challenge for us,” said Lolwah al-Marri, the general secretary of Qatar’s Olympic committee who is charged with developing sports for women. “When we started, families were concerned for the girls’ safety and were afraid people would start talking badly about their daughters.”
The focus 10 years ago was on building women’s team sports, but by December 2011, when Doha was hosting the Arab Games, 40 percent of the Qatari delegation were women, competing in volleyball and basketball and eight individual sports, including gymnastics and swimming.
“The dress code is a big problem in these sports,” al-Marri said.
There are signs, however, that the times when families in the desert nation of 1.6 million kept their women confined to the home are receding into the past.

“It’s not an issue, the dress,” said Shaden Wahdan, a 16-year-old gymnast.
One of the costumes she wore at the Youth Olympics will one day be on display at an Olympic Museum that Qatar plans to open, Wahdan said. She is the first woman to have competed for Qatar in an Olympic event last year.
“I don’t really care what people think. I want to compete and win medals,” Wahdan said during this month’s Arab Games, the region’s biggest multi-sports event.
And win medals she did: two golds, one on the floor and another in the beam. She also was awarded two silver medals and a bronze, a tally that definitely boosted her chances of going to the London Games.
“It would be such a great experience,” Wahdan said.
Saudi Arabia’s 18-year-old equestrian athlete, Dalma Rushdi Malhas, was the first woman to compete internationally for the ultra-conservative kingdom. She won a bronze medal at the Singapore Youth Olympics.
Sticking to tradition, Saudi Arabia sent an all-male team to the Arab Games, but local media have reported that Riyadh might send Malhas to the London Games to avoid criticism.

Banned
Women’s rights organizations - and some IOC members - say Saudi Arabia should be banned from the Olympics for excluding women.
“Dalma is being used as a token woman they want to send to London to avoid being banned,” said Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based Institute of Gulf Affairs that has been behind the “No Women No Play” campaign that advocates the Saudi Olympic ban.
Qatari sports officials say it is unfair to lump their nation with Saudi Arabia. Many credit Sheika Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned, Qatar’s first lady and a campaigner for women’s empowerment, for successfully conveying the message to society that sports can be good for girls.
“Going to the games is not an issue in Qatar. Changing mindsets is,” said Noora al-Mannai, the CEO of Doha’s 2020 Olympic bid, adding that Doha will in the next three years open a high-performance training center for female athletes from all over the region.
“It’s happening,” al-Mannai said, “but changes take time and I am sure that by the time Olympics come to Doha, there will be many female athletes who qualify to compete.”

Source: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/177615/reftab/36/t/Qatar-women-hope-to-make-history/Default.aspx

Raising An Olympian - NEVIN YANIT

P & G represents series about the mother behind Olympians of London 2012. 

Veiled Women Athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics: Media Accounts

By Mayfoud Amara

The aim of this paper is to explore and to compare different international media accounts about the presence of veiled athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In other words, to uncover whether the discourse of clash of cultures or that of cross-cultural dialogue has shaped their position about Islam, Muslim identities,

Muslim women and the Muslim world in general. Furthermore, from the perspective of media in the Arab and the Muslim world, the purpose of the analysis is to explore their responses to international media, and to investigate their positions in relation to the host nation (China), Asian culture and the Olympics.

Keywords: 2008 Beijing Olympics; hijab (the veil); veiled Muslim women athletes; identity; body; media; religion

Full Paper Available: The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 29, No. 4, March 2012, 638–651

Iranian Female Athletes Find Their Way

By Leila MOURI

At this summer's London paralympics, Iran's Zahra Nemati won an archery gold, becoming the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at any Olympic Games. In an interview with the Tehran Times, Nemati said that the lack of facilities did not (and does not) prevent Iranian female athletes from succeeding in sports.

In many respects, her statement is a half-truth. Since 1979, Iranian sportswomen have faced many obstacles in order to participate in international competitions -- especially since both government and international organizations have designed and implemented policies that stand in their way. As an immediate example, recall what happened to Iran's national football team, one of the best squads in the Middle East. In 2011, FIFA disqualified the female soccer team from entering Olympic competition. FIFA pointed to the to thehijab uniform the athletes were obliged to wear, deeming them a breach of the association's dress code and promoting of religious symbols in international competition. Female footballers had no choice in this matter: not only did their government impose the headscarf, but FIFA also prevented them from participating because of this headscarf.

Caught between Iran's state policies and international regulations, Iranian women have lost many opportunities in the field of sports in the past three decades. With the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, unveiled women were banned from entering the public sphere. After this ruling, many women's sports teams were disbanded. Radical ideologies and conservative beliefs put a stop to the athletes' activities in the first years after the Revolution. Traditionalist clerics believed that women's participation in any sort of sport was contrary to Islamic teachings.

In the 1990s, Faezeh Hashemi, President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's youngest daughter, launched a campaign advocating women's sports. After meeting in Qom with Grand Ayatollahs, high-ranking clerics in charge of issuing fatwas for Shi'a Muslims, she endeavored to recreate a community of female athletes for the first time since the revolution in spite of the heavy-handed criticism from conservative government officials. Her opponents went so far as to call her a faheshe, meaning "prostitute" in Persian -- even though she was a believer, a high-ranking cleric's daughter, and a wearer of the chador. Faezeh Hashemi's efforts culminated in holding the first female-only sports competitions for Muslim countries in Tehran for the years 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2005. However, no more events have been held since 2005. President Ahmadinejad's administration dissolved the Islamic Federation of Women's Sports, Iran's governing body in charge of organizing the competition which had Hashemi as its head. However there were the rumors that this decision was made in order to dismiss Hashemi from her position.

As a result of compulsory hijab restrictions and rising international regulations, Iranian women athletes tended to participate in sports which did not subject them to the same legal provisions in international competitions. Archery was one such sport (martial arts, such as judo and wushu, car racing, rowing and chess are among the sports that Iranian women play professionally, mainly in recent years.) Archer Lida Fariman was the first Iranian female athlete to participate in the Olympics since the 1979 revolution. She was also the only female athlete on Iran's Olympic team at the 1996 Atlanta games.

Although many barriers still remain, Iranian female athletes vow to compete with their fellow sportswomen from other countries. Their presence in sport tournaments, however, could be more victorious and joyous if both the Iranian state and international sports governing bodies allow them to pursue their dreams -- free from any political and cultural obligations.

Follow Leila Mouri on Twitter: www.twitter.com/femiran

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leila-mouri/iranian-female-athletes-f_b_1861033.html

Islamic Reflections on Women’s Sporting Bodies in Relation to Sexuality, Modesty and Privacy

By Sertaç SEHLIKOGLU

During 2012 London Olympics, heated debates arose around the question of Muslim women’s participation to Olympics. Some of these discussions problematized the position of countries which have never sent a female Olympian (Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar), while others discussed under which conditions headscarved (hijabi) Olympians should participate in the games. Although they come from very different ideaological, political, and religious perspectives, all these debates and interventions claimed the right to exercise power on the female body. As an activist blogger on Muslim women’s involvement in sports and a young anthropologist, I have been inquiring issues of women’s agency, desire, and privacy in my field research.  As I have been interviewing Muslim women doing sports in women-only gyms in Istanbul, I have asked them about their views on involvement in sports, privacy, modesty, and public sexuality.

In order to have a better understanding of the debates on Muslim sportswomen, one needs to keep two points in mind: The first one is the Islamic point that sports requires body movements that trouble the perceptions on women’s public visibility and public sexuality. The second point however is linked to a broader question on the boundaries between the masculine and the feminine; which are perceived to be physically yet discursively trespassed by professional sportswomen, who are therefore considered as troubling subjects.

The literature on sports and gender also emphasizes that women face higher levels of constraints than men regarding involvement in leisure and sports both in Western and in Muslim contexts (Shaw 1994, 1996; Henderson and Bialeschki 1993). While several scholars bring forward the original teachings of Islam which actually favor and advocate physical development sports for both sexes (Mahfoud 2008, Pfitzer 2008), several others criticize the ways in which Muslim women’s involvement in sports are overshadowed and restricted by hegemonic masculine discourses (Di-Capua 2006). Among those discussions, I am interested in whether and how Muslim women have developed strategies to increase and legitimize their involvement in sports both in the Muslim and non-Muslim and/or secular world.

MUSLIM WOMEN AND SPORTS: A CONTESTED AREA

Two female participants of Olympics from Turkey with other fencers, 1936. Image courtesy Sertac Sehlikoglu

We can group Muslim sportswomen into three based on their participation in international games. The first group of women is composed of those who are not following the Islamic dress code, some of whom do not believe that such dress code (ie, headscarf) is Islamic. Historically, this group has been involved in international games for much longer than the other two, since modernists in many Muslim societies viewed sports as a means of breaking women’s segregation and including them in public life in the early 20th century. The first Muslim women attended the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Suat Aşeni and Halet Çambel represented Turkey in fencing, 36 years after first women were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. Turkey, as a country which accepts international dress regulations for different branches of sports, does not have any problem in sending its successful sportswomen to the Olympic Games, as long as the sportswomen follow the international dress codes in sports.

The second group of Muslim women is composed of those who believe in modesty and prefer observing Islam in terms of the dress code as well. These women often face other rules, such as those in international games, which forbid their headscarf based on safety and security concerns. Muslim sports activists propose “safe hijabs” to negotiate with security concerns and suggest alternative styles for different branches. FIFA, for instance, was in contact with designers for an approvable headgear to be used in international soccer games when this article was being written.

A third group of Muslim women however, are not allowed to participate in sports, not because of their religious choices or international game regulations, but because of the regulations of their own country. Iranian sportswomen are an example to this, since the branches of sports Iranian women are allowed to participate are limited: Lida Fariman, Manije Kazemi (archery), Marjan Kalhor (skiing), and Sara Khoshjamal Fekri (taekwondo) are four examples, who have represented Iran in the Olympic games in earlier years within clothes regulated by their country. In these Iranian cases, the dress codes of the sport are in line with Iran’s national dress code for modesty to be preserved. Similarly, and unfortunately, there are countries, such as the Southeast Asian nation of Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have not sent any single woman to the Olympic games until 2012. Such outfit regulations influence female citizens of these countries whether the sportwomen themselves are Muslims or not, since they are bounded with the codes both at national and at international level.

What all these groups of Muslim women seem to be sharing is that their bodies are at the center of heated ideological, political, or religious debates and contestations at national and international platforms; as these women are subjected to different forms of idealized discourses and pressures (of secularist and Islamist patriarchies) on multiple fronts.

The fatwas regarding sports are very explanatory in understanding the “Islamic” attitudes. Although Islamic rules do not necessarily pose an obstacle to the participation of women in sports, they can shape the sporting experience of women as gendered subjects. All of the fatwas on Islamic web sites concerning physical exercise begin with the importance of sports for health and encourage individuals to be physically active with reference to hadiths, with minor warnings on violence, fanaticism, or hooliganism. When it comes to women’s involvement in sports, the fatwas start using a more regulative language in details. Almost all of the suggested regulations and rules about women’s involvement in sports are related to gender segregation, and, more importantly, bodily exposure. Fatwas specify several rules that must be followed:  First, men and women must be segregated, since mixed environments may open channels for seduction, temptation and corruption. Fatwas reject any physical exercise that stir sexual urge or encourage moral perversion such as women practicing dancing and being watched by the public since each one of the these acts are coded as “sexual(ly appealing).” Indeed, those within Saudi Arabia who oppose the inclusion of women in sports do so because future implications and consequences of women’s involvement in sports might be un-Islamic although there is nothing in Islam that prohibits women from physical activity or even competitive sports.

Most of the time, the most convenient sport for Muslim sportswomen who have concerns about their body movements or Islamic veiling are the branches that do not require too much body movements – the movements which are perceived as ‘sexually appealing’ such as movement of hips (running) and breasts (jumping). The most popular sports for women from predominantly Muslim countries have been athletics, power lifting, fencing, archery, martial arts and table tennis. Such branches are more convenient especially if women are professionals and need to spend hours everyday for training. Women can easily find spaces for training and do not need to seek for special dedicated spaces.

WHAT IS THE BORDER OF VEIL, SEXUALITY AND SPORTS?

Set of photos shown to informants and asked what they think. Image courtesy Sertac Sehlikoglu

The Islamic veiling, whether in the format of a simple headscarf or in more sophisticated outfits, does have a spiritual value for Muslim women as they cover their bodies during prayer. Such a value is too important to underestimate. Yet, the borders of a veiled body also stay on the edge of the gender binary of modern Islamic heterosexual norms. As apparent in the fatwas, less veiled body of a Muslim woman arouses hyper-femininity yet reflects homoerotic boundaries of women in Islamic cultures. However, the body of a Muslim sportswoman is troubling not only because it is sexually arousing as a female body, but also because it trespasses into the masculine zone.

During my field research on women-only gyms in Istanbul, I interviewed 40 women on their involvement in physical exercise and how their involvement is shaped or constrained by people closest to them at home or at work. These women prefer such homosocial spaces simply because they do not feel “comfortable”, as they put it, when they can be seen by men. I showed my informants, who were sporty but not involved in any professional sports, photos of various Muslim sportswomen taken during international games. They were all familiar with physical exercise and accepted Islamic gender norms at one level, therefore preferred homosocial spaces to exercise. The photos women were shown included Sania Mirza (Indian tennis player, non-veiled), Roqaya Al-Gassra (Bahraini Athlete, veiled), female wrestlers, volleyball players, and weightlifters. Amongst all, Al-Gassra aroused the most mixed feelings amongst women. Women did not feel comfortable about Al-Gassra’s look since she “looked like a guy” and she was revealing her body although she was covering her head. On the other hand, most of my veiled informants were proud to see a ‘veiled’ (not a Muslim but veiled) woman in international games but they still found it unnecessary. The Olympics and international games therefore, raise the debate on the ways in which a woman’s body is exposed to international audiences which is linked to complex feelings on national pride (and how this sense of pride and nation is perceived), women’s public sexuality, modesty and Islamic pride (which also takes gendered forms).  Indeed, Al-Gassra, as a professional veiled athlete, was becoming part of such Islamic pride and become target of criticisms for two reasons: for her low-veiling and tomboy look. Thus, Islamic pride of a woman is expected to be both normative and modest; both of which are violated in the case of Al-Gassra.

Source: http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/08/17/boundaries-of-a-veiled-female-body/