An Iraqi Weightlifter's Story

BY:SHIREEN AHMED

“I’d like to be a champion. That is my goal in life”

Story of female weightlifter Huda Salem in Iraq, ten years after her country was invaded and much of it destroyed. 

These women are amazing, gifted and are encouraged by their families.

Like all athletes should be. 

Huda lives with her family very humbly yet has so much determination and poise. 

May she win for Iraq and win for herself.

Originally Posted: http://footybedsheets.tumblr.com/post/45710602171/iraq-war-10-years-on-a-female-weightlifters-story

Amid Glares, Female Weight Lifters Compete

By KAREN LEIGH

Women weight lifters in the United Arab Emirates, like Amna Al Haddad, are competing in what is thought of as a "man's sport."

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In a private gym tucked away in the warren of villas in the ritzy Jumeirah district here, Amna Al Haddad, a 22-year-old, adjusted her head scarf, bent to a dumbbell rack and jerked 100 pounds, roughly her body weight, into the air.
“I can lift a boy up,” she said.
Al Haddad is one of 12 women who train as competitive weight lifters in the United Arab Emirates, combating the stigma of lifting as a “man’s sport” in the Arab country, whose local population — despite the presence of bikini-clad foreigners for decades — holds to its conservative Muslim tradition.
Weight lifting is often confused with bodybuilding in the Emirates and women who take part are often seen as masculine, or lesbian, which is a crime in the U.A.E.
In the summer, Khadija Mohammed, 17, became the first female Emirati lifter to make the Olympics.
More conservative Emiratis say the sport “should be for a man, that your body will be changed,” said Faisal al-Hammadi, the secretary-general for the U.A.E. Weightlifting Federation.
Female lifters say they are told that the sport will make them unattractive to male suitors; marriage is still considered the most important event in a young Emirati woman’s life.
“A lot of women say, ‘Wow, look at her body,’ ” Al Haddad said. “They ask me how to get lean, and when I say I weight lift, they get scared. But it’s the 21st century now. I don’t want to get married until I make the Olympics.”
Her sinewy frame is a testament to the grueling daily training sessions that include clean-and-jerk and snatch lifts or core and strength training.
Weight lifting remains the only women’s national team of the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
 “We tried to make a team with other countries like Kuwait and Bahrain, but they also faced that negativity,” al-Hammadi said.
The U.A.E. allowed women to weightlift starting in 2000. In 2008, it separated the bodybuilding and weight lifting federations, lessening the decidedly unfeminine imagery attached to lifting compared with that of bodybuilding’s hulking muscles and popping veins.
With support from the Dubai Sports Council, the federation has put an emphasis on the sport, recruiting athletes who would not gravitate toward lifting.
In 2009, it brought in a new head coach, Najwan El Zawawi, an Egyptian who competed for her home country at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Last year, the International Weightlifting Federation lifted a competition ban on head scarves, effectively opening the sport to female Muslim athletes.
In April, the U.A.E. sent a team to the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, the first time they had competed internationally.
The group performance there was good enough to win Mohammed a berth to the London Olympics, effectively placing the Emiratis on the sport’s global map.
But the program is still badly underfinanced, and stigma against the female athletes is rampant.
“Our resources are less than other countries with a female athlete culture, like Kazakhstan,” al-Hammadi said.
He hopes the Olympic hype will change things, like in 2005, when Dubai hosted the Asian Weightlifting Championship. It was the first time most Emirati women had heard of weight lifting.
“After that, they knew it was something they should join,” he said. “Friends, sisters joined the team together.”
It could help that the woman onstage, clean-and-jerking the dumbbell, is wearing a head scarf.
Al Haddad said of her sport, “Close friends are interested now.”
“People like us, when they see someone like them doing it, they can identify,” Al Haddad said. They realize that “you can still love and respect your beliefs,” but be an athlete.
Hopes are high that the women’s team will eventually catch the men, who lift in a different gym at Dubai’s sprawling Al Shabab Al Arabi Club, and who number more than 35.
At a recent workout, Al Haddad, in the company of a male trainer, wore full arm and leg compression skins under her shorts and a short-sleeve shirt with the word “beast” printed in bold across it, a concession to tradition.
Sweat running down her face, she chugged an amino acid drink supplement and said she pushed through the pain — and the negative comments — by thinking about four things: “Focus and breathe and stretch and Olympics.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/sports/amid-glares-female-muslim-weightlifters-compete.html?_r=0

Turkey's Nazmiye Muslu breaks records

Turkey's Nazmiye Muslu broke the world and Paralympic records to take gold ahead of silver medallist Zhe Cui of China

In the Name of the Game(s) – Muslim Female Athletes at the 2012 London Olympics

The 2012 London Olympics have had a strong focus on women: for the first time women will be competing in all sports and every country has sent at least one female athlete.

Zulfiya Chinshanlo, Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting. Image via the Toronto Star.

While this does all look mighty good on paper, “male” sports remain overall more popular and male athletes are often better paid, make use of better facilities (flying business vs. flying coach) and receive more face time than their female counterparts. And while much of the attention female athletes receive isfocused on their looks (beach volleyball anyone?), the major decision-makers in sports are still predominantly male. (It should be added that 1984 gold medalist Nawal el Moutawakel is now the first woman from a Muslim nation in the role of Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.)

For Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, this will be the first time sending a female athlete to the Olympic Games. All three countries are, and this has been pointed out numerous times, Muslim-majority nations. Both Qatar and Brunei let the world know early on that they will be sending in female athletes for these Games. The tiny Asian nation of Brunei is sending one female this year, hurdler Maziah Mahusin, which does not seem like a lot, but in 2008 Brunei did not even participate in the Games, and the country has sent in only four athletes to previous Games. Mahusin is part of a delegation that consists of three athletes in total. Qatar has been more successful, sending sizeable teams to previous Games.  This year, Qatar has sent four female athletes, competing in four different disciplines, and says it will continue to promote women’s sports in the country. This is no surprise; Qatar has aspirations to host several major international sport events (lost the bid for the 2020 Olympics), and will host the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2022.

And then Saudi Arabia: a country without a real history of competitive sports for women, with a strict female dress code, and under conservative rule. Was Saudi Arabia going to let women even compete? And yes, so it was. After all, even Saudi Arabia cares when it comes to the Olympic Games. It is doubtful whether this will actually change the climate for women athletes within the country, but let’s remain positive. Sarah Attar, one of the two athletes, is a child of a Saudi father and American mother and has been running competitively in California, without headscarf, but with Saudi citizenship. It is expected that Sarah Attar will compete in more conservative attire, when representing her country, as she has already done several interviews and public appearances while donning a headscarf. The other athlete is Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, a Saudi judoka, who is living in Saudi Arabia and has been trained at home by her father. While it was for a long time unclear whether or not Shaherkani would actually compete, because judo has banned the headscarf in the sports, she did compete on August 3rd with an adjusted headscarf. She lost her match in 82 seconds.

It shouldn’t be all about the headscarf, of course, but a lot of the news seems to be.  The United Arab Emirates weightlifting athlete, Khadijah Mohammad, has been training and competing in front of the camera without a headscarf, but will wear a headscarf when competing at the Olympics. The participation of the UAE weightlifters in the Olympics was, in fact, even pending on whether or not a more modest attire would be permitted in this discipline. There is no ruling in the UAE that women should wear a headscarf in public, and the other female athlete representing the UAE, Ethiopia-born Bethlem Deslagn Belayneh, does not, and is not expected to wear the hijab either.

The recent decision by FIFA to allow the headscarf on the soccer field came too late for the Iranian soccer team. They will not be competing at this year’s Olympics, despite the fact that they are considered to a be a strong team and capable to make a difference on the Olympic stage. There will be other Iranian female athletes, who all have to wear the headscarf, competing in sports, like shooting, rowing and table tennis.

For some athletes, their personal choice of wearing the veil has left them in a dilemma. Egyptian pentathlete Aya Medany, for example, has been a medal hopeful at the previous Olympics, and even though she disappointed in Beijing, placing “only” 8th, she is once again considered a major contender for the gold medal in her discipline. She even made it to the BBC shortlist of African athletes to watch. While she would love to get to the medal stage this time around and prove her abilities as an athlete, her recent decision to start wearing the headscarf has had a huge impact on her athletic career. As a hijabi, Medany wanted to compete in the swimming section of her sport in a “modest swimsuit”, but she is, according to international regulations, not allowed to do so. Aya Medany is now contemplating to leave the sport just after the Olympics, at age 24.

Feta Ahamada is a female athlete, competing at the 100m sprint at the upcoming Olympics. She hails from the Comoros, a Muslim island nation just off the east coast of continental Africa, and while she chooses not to cover up, she stresses that it should be the decision of the athlete how she wants to compete. Due to her wish to pursue an athletic career, Ahamada has moved to France; she says that she is very thankful to her parents that they have supported her in this decision, and acknowledges that this must not have been easy to them. Ahamada did qualify in the preliminaries for the first round of the 100m, but has failed to make it further.

Kosovar/Kosovan athletes were hoping to represent their country for the first time at these Olympics, but like many nations, international sporting federations have yet to accept Kosovo’s status as an independent nation. In May the International Olympic Committee had turned down Kosovo’s bid to the Olympics, leaving athletes look for different options, like judoka Majlinda Kelmindi, who holds an Albanian passport too, who will now compete for Albania. For Lumturie and Utara Rama, cousins and both shooters, this decision means that they are not able to compete at the Olympics at all.

Wrestler Aisuluu Tynybekova is the first female wrestler to compete for her country, Kyrgyzstan, and because of that, and a lack of financial funds, she has trained with male wrestlers only. This was not the only hurdle Tynybekova had to overcome to reach London 2012, she was also charged with hooliganism, allegedly beating up another girl last April. The girl’s family was looking for Tynybekova’s disqualification from the Olympic team, but as she is a medal hopeful, the trial has been put on hold until she returns from the Games. She could face up to five years in prison, if found guilty. While Tynybekova meets resistance as a Kyrgyz girl competing in wrestling, in Somalia (young) women have been competing for the one spot available at the London Olympics in very difficult circumstances. Their stadium was bullet-ridden, and there was little support for female athletes at all. Zamzam Mohamed Farah is the one female athlete to represent Somalia in athletics, running the 400m.

Sadaf Rahimi, a young Afghan boxer, hoped to be the first Afghan woman to represent her country in this new Olympic addition: female boxing. She had received a wildcard invitation, and trained hard to get her performance up to international standards. Unfortunately for her, on July 18 the International Boxing Association decided that Rahimi could not compete in boxing, because they cannot guarantee her safety in the ring when she meets opponents of completely different calibre. The only female athlete to represent Afghanistan this year is Tahmina Kohestani, who will compete in the 100m sprint on August 3rd. Before the Games she was subject to frequent harassment, from people who thought that it wasagainst their honor that a Muslim Afghan girl would represent Afghanistan at the Games.

There was a completely different first for Malaysian Nur Suryani Mohamad Taibi, who was 8 months pregnant when she competed in shooting last weekend at the Olympics, which makes her the “most pregnant” athlete ever to compete at the Games. She did not make it to the finals, however, but remains positive about her future career, promising to keep competing after the birth.

The first medal for a Muslim woman at these 2012 London Olympics went to Kazakhstani weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo, who won a gold medal in the 53 kilogram category, and has bettered her own world record by doing so. Another Kazakhstani athlete, Maiya Maneza, won gold in weightlifting too, a few days later. Both girls are, according to Kazakh information, Dungans. The Dungan are Muslims of Chinese origin, who fled to Central Asia in the 19th century. According to officials from the Chinese Hunan Province Sports Bureau, however, both girls are, in fact, Chinese, which would explain the fact that neither of girls were able to speak Kazakh, and both spoke only a little Russian, when a journalist visited their training camp earlier this year.

Of course the 2012 Olympics are far from over, and there are many other stories still evolving, and I am sure, there are many other stories concerning Muslim female athletes that I have missed. With over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries competing, it is just mission impossible to keep track of them all! Feel free to add links to stories and results of Muslim female athletes in the comments!

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2012/08/in-the-name-of-the-games-muslim-female-athletes-at-the-2012-london-olympics/

Kazakhstan weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo breaks world record

KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS

LONDON—Weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan set a clean-and-jerk world record Sunday to win the gold medal in the women’s 53-kilogram category at the London Olympics.

Chinshanlo, 19, lifted 131 kilograms in her second clean-and-jerk attempt, bettering her own world record by 1 kilogram. She finished with a total of 226 kilograms.

Hsu Shu-ching of Taiwan got the silver medal and Cristina Iovu of Moldova the bronze.

Chinshanlo, world champion in 2011, was third after the snatch, but was unstoppable in the clean and jerk. She even loaded 135 kilograms on the bar for her final attempt, but gave up halfway through the lift.

China’s Zhou Jun, a medal favourite, surprisingly made an early departure from the competition after failing her three snatch attempts.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/weightlifting/article/1233920--london-2012-kazakhstan-weightlifter-zulfiya-chinshanlo-breaks-world-record

Olympic weightlifter blazes a trail for Gulf women

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Najwan El Zawawi didn't have the Olympics in mind when she arrived to set up a weightlifting program in the United Arab Emirates four years ago.

Her main aim was just to recruit a handful of girls whose families allowed them to participate, no small task considering no Gulf nation had ever established a women's team. Many Emiratis in this conservative Muslim country confuse the sport with body building and some fear that allowing their girls to participate would lead to injuries or a masculine physique which could, in turn, erode marriage prospects.

The number of school girls venturing to the team's training gym in Dubai has grown into double figures and this year El Zawawi, a former Egyptian Olympic lifter, was rewarded for her perseverance. The UAE team did well enough at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in South Korea to earn a spot at the London Olympics -- a first for a Gulf country.

"Four years ago, I thought it would be impossible to reach the Olympics," said El Zawawi, who competed in the 69-kilogram category at the 2000 Sydney Games. "But then we went to South Korea and planned how as a team we could get one spot in the Olympics. The plan was better than other countries. We knew we could do better at qualifying at heavyweight and superheavyweight division."

Four girls returned to the UAE to compete for the one spot and Khadija Mohammed, a frizzy-haired, 17-year-old student with a disarming smile, was chosen. She has only been lifting for two years but now has the chance to make history in the 75-kilogram category.

"I am so happy and I will challenge myself and I will work hard to win a medal," said Mohammed, speaking above the clang of weights and laughter of her teammates mastering the clean and jerk and snatch. "I will be so happy to represent the UAE and accomplish something for the country."

Mohammed will not only make history as the first female lifter from the Gulf at the Olympics but the first female Emirati to qualify outright for the Olympics. The UAE sent its first two women the Olympics in 2008 -- among them Sheikha Maitha bint Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the daughter of the Dubai ruler -- but they both received wild-card invitations from the International Olympic Committee.

Mohammed also will be the first woman weightlifter to wear a hijab or Muslim head scarf at the Olympics as well as a newly-approved unitard that covers most of her body.

She is not expected to challenge for a medal because she is less experienced than the favorites in her weight category, which includes Nadezda Evstyukhina of Russia, Svetlana Podobedova of Kazakhstan and Lidia Valentin of Spain. She only finished seventh in qualifying.

But taking the stage in the UAE colors will go a long way to establishing the sport for women in the region.

"It will be a shocking thing for people to know that a girl (from the UAE) is participating," Mohammed said, dismissing those who have criticized the female weightlifters on social networking sites as not being true Emiratis and being an embarrassment to the country.

"In the UAE, it is a girls' sport as the girls qualified, not the boys."

Her teammate and friend Alanood Abdulla Faraj said Mohammed's participation in London will be a boon to women.

"I've been told this is not for women and this will ruin my body and that we should just go shopping," Faraj said. "Women can do more. There are women who are ministers, presidents of countries who are women. So the status of women will only go higher by playing this sport."

There are already supporters for the women. Mohammed's family encouraged her to make the switch from football and the Emirates Weightlifting Federation has been quick to embrace her success.

"Of course, we are really proud of this big achievement," said Faisal Yousif Hammadi, the federation's secretary general who attended a promotional event aimed at introducing Mohammed to the public.

"It is maybe a hard sport. In the Gulf, they are keeping their culture," he said. "But after they saw our achievements, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar have started to think about building a team, hiring a women's coach."

The International Weightlifting Federation also has welcomed the UAE's progress and expects more Muslim countries to follow the nation's path after it changed its policies last year to allow a one-piece uniform covering the full body. It always allowed a hijab.

"This success is a great achievement for weightlifting and reinforces its ideals of inclusion and openness," IWF President Tamas Ajan said in an e-mail. "The participation of Ms. Mohammed is a driving force to encourage more women to start practicing weightlifting not only within the Gulf Countries, but all around the world."

But the team's success has yet to bring rewards at home.

The federation operates out of a villa and has struggled just to find space for the men's and women's teams to train. They were renting a rundown weight room in a Dubai sports club but have been told that lease will be cancelled later this year. The teams also lack funding to set up adequate training camps outside the country or attend more than a handful of competitions each year.

"I hope the government and federation takes more interest and provide more support for the girls," El Zawawi said. "I feel bad because we don't get any support. I have dreams in the future of four or five girls going to the Olympics. But I need support."

---

Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=oly&id=8167897

USOC lifted the bar for Muslim woman A year later, competing for Pakistan, she hopes for Olympic chance

Philip Hersh from Chicago Tribute

Globetrotting by Philip Hersh

Kulsoom Abdullah at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships (Ccurtesy Kulsoom Abdullah / April 13, 2012)

Next week at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in South Korea, a computer engineer from Atlanta will take another step she hopes could lead to the 2012 London Olympics.

That Kulsoom Abdullah has gotten this far is nothing short of a miracle, given what she needed to overcome in the often hidebound world of international sports.

It is a miracle for which the United States Olympic Committee deserves global praise at a time when much of the world criticizes the USOC for being selfish because it wants a fair and necessary share of both U.S. television rights for the Games and global Olympic sponsorship rights, more than half of which come from U.S. multinationals.

Without the USOC - especially Dragomir Cioroslan, its international relations director --- Abdullah's petition for rule changes about competition costumes that would allow her to feel comfortable as both a Muslim woman and a weightlifter never would have reached the proper authorities.

The result of the USOC's help is Abdullah, a U.S. citizen, has been able to compete in major events  - for her parents' native country, Pakistan.

"I clearly believe this shows we are a selfless organization," Cioroslan said.

While that clearly is not true in all cases, as cash-starved U.S. athletes who chafe at the big USOC management salaries can point out, it definitely is true in this one.

And Abdullah's case represents progress for all Muslim women, even as the repressive sheikhs in Saudi Arabia still refuse to name a woman to their Olympic team.

This all developed barely a year ago, when the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun asking for support in effecting the changes Abdullah needed to compete in major U.S. events.

Blackmun turned to Cioroslan, a vice-president of the International Weightlifting Federation.

"Scott told me, `If we can help, this is the right thing to do,''' Cioroslan said.  "We feel sports should be accepting and inclusive."

Cioroslan somehow succeeded at getting the item on the IWF agenda for a key meeting a month later. To its credit, the international federation immediately adopted changes that would accommodate both the sport's technical rules and Adbullah's desire to satisfy her cultural and religious norms.

"(After) CAIR and the media took my plight to the USOC, their (USOC) subsequent intervention in helping me have my voice heard was monumental for me," Adbullah said in an email.

"The time and effort spent finally became a reality, officially breaking boundaries, leading myself and other women to potentially more opportunities."  

Abdullah's first event was last summer's U.S. Championships, where she was a distant fifth of six in the 106-pound class.  After that, she contacted the Pakistan Weightlifting Federation, which chose her as the first female lifter to represent the country at the World Championships last November.

The USOC was fine with that.

"It's not unusual for an athlete to pursue an Olympic dream through all avenues open to them," Cioroslan said.

Abdullah, who turned 36 in March and began competing only two years ago, was among just eight women representing a predominantly Muslim country in a field with 223 entrants.   She finished 23rd of 27 in her weight class, lifting 100 pounds less than the 22nd finisher.

"I feel very fortunate to be able to compete at high levels when my abilities are not as high as the other athletes from other countries. . .and at the same time help make a difference," she said.

Pakistan has not earned an 2012 Olympic women's weightlifting spot, but it can get one of 12 "wild card" invitations.

It would be easy -- and not wrong -- to say there are so many women whose results far outweigh Abdullah's that she should not go to London ahead of them.

But the international federation already has made a statement by giving Abdullah -- and all women who prefer more coverage of their bodies, not just Muslims  -- the freedom she needed to compete.

That is how Abdullah came to follow U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the lectern at a State Department reception for Eid ul-Fitr last September.  Clinton introduced her by saying she is "forging the way for Muslim women athletes to maintain their freedom of expression and still compete at the highest level." 

Weightlifting, a sport as old as Atlas, has shown itself to be far more progressive about women athletes than sports like volleyball, which has insisted women wear skintight short shorts for the indoor game and until recently mandated bikinis for beach volleyball.

The attention Abdullah would get in London would spread the message IWF president Tomas Ajan insisted was behind the change.

``This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion,'' Ajan said.

So was the USOC's decision to help a woman who never will wear "USA" on her costume.
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/globetrotting/chi-usoc-lifted-the-bar-for-muslim-woman-20120412,0,5770306.column

Mark Dawson: Officials forced to wear change

In life, they say it's not what you know ... it's who you know.

In sport, it's not what you know, it's what you wear.

Not so long ago, banned burquas got a Muslim women's soccer team kicked out of competition and now an American weightlifter has had to go to the sport's world governing body and force a rule change after being barred from the US championships because of her attire. Kulsoom Abdullah's Muslim faith requires her to cover her arms, legs and head, violating international rules for weightlifters.

The new rule will allow her to wear a "one-piece, full-body, tight-fitted 'unitard"' - which sounds like a great marketing opportunity.

Apparently in the old clean-and-jerk, judges have to see the knees and elbows locked out to award a bona fide lift. Ms Abdullah says the new one-piece will give judges a good view of her elbows.

Less good news for Orthodox Jew and Israeli basketball player Naama Shafir who wears a T-shirt under her team top - for reasons of religious modesty, naturally. European basketball authorities have insisted all players must wear exactly the same gear, as per the rules.

In other fashion news, badminton's bosses have got their knickers in a twist after plans to make women players wear skirts or dresses were given a general down-trou amid accusations of "sexism".

Things are much simpler back home. The All Blacks unveiled their "revolutionary" new World Cup jersey by keeping it hidden. The new shirts won't be revealed until the Tri-Nations game against South Africa on July 30 but at last week's launch popular style guru Jimmy Cowan reckoned it would give them a mental edge. So that's all right then.

The big question is: Will its new enhanced black colour be a match for the latest French strip which cunningly boasts two tones of blue that featured on the shirts in the World Cup wins over New Zealand in 1999 and 2007. Sacre bleu!

War of words beats ring action

So the war of words outside the ring proved more exciting than anything that went on inside it when Vladimir Klitschko beat David Haye in the world heavyweight title fight. The verbal violence at least had entertainment value as far as who could fire off the cheapest and nastiest insults. Trash-talker Haye came out with "Bitchko", "a fraud" and "a robot" and was ahead on points on the judges' scorecards.

But, of course, then he stubbed his toe ... and hobbled to defeat. It's a lame excuse and one wonders how much we would have heard about the "Toe" had Haye actually won the fight.

Still, he wants a re-match and he's calling Klitschko "Vladimir" now, so that's all good.

The pre-bout bad-mouthing reminded me of Muhammad Ali, whose tongue was as fast as his hands, and who would tear the likes of Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton to pieces with mere words.

But, of course, those people were real fighters and were actually worth seeing.

Walk just proves guilt

Latest on the football Mafia that is Fifa ...

Caribbean soccer boss and Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has resigned rather than face an ethics committee probe.

Fifa has now bestowed on him "the presumption of innocence", though just how much innocence can be presumed for a man censured for World Cup ticket scams and linked to brown envelopes each stuffed with $40,000 and allegedly handed out as Qatar's Mohamed bin Hammam made his election pitch for votes to unseat Fifa boss "Slippery" Sepp Blatter, is open to question.Finally, former Fifa president Joao Havelange, the man who showed "Slippery" Sepp how to get business done, is now on the International Olympic Committee. The IOC is investigating corruption allegations.

Source: http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/news/mark-dawson-officials-forced-to-wear-change/1061401/

Weightlifting body changes dress code, benefits Muslim woman

By the CNN Wire Staff

Atlanta (CNN) -- The International Weightlifting Federation has modified its rules and will allow athletes to wear a full-body, tight-fitted unitard during competition, the group said.

Wednesday's rule change was prompted by an Atlanta woman, who wanted to take part in competitions governed by IWF rules but still adhere to the modest dress of her Muslim faith.

"Weightlifting is an Olympic Sport open for all athletes to participate without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin in accordance with the principles of the Olympic Charter and values," Tamas Ajan, IWF president, said Wednesday. "This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion."

Before the change, the IWF's technical and competition rules said weightlifting outfits -- officially called "costumes" -- had to be collarless and not cover the elbows or knees.

Abdullah, a 35-year-old with a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering, is not an Olympic athlete, but enjoys lifting weights.

She generally wears loose, long pants past the ankles, a long-sleeve, fitted shirt with a loose T-shirt over it, and a hijab, or head scarf, covering her hair.

"It's what I believe in. It's what I've chosen to do," Abdullah told CNN this month about her decision to wear modest garb. "I've always dressed this way publicly."

She can deadlift 245 pounds (111 kg) and get up 105 pounds (47.5 kg) in the snatch, in which the competitor lifts the barbell from the floor to over her head in a single motion. She likes to compete with other women in her weight class -- she generally weighs in the 106-pound (48 kg) or 117-pound (53 kg) classifications.

"It guess it's empowering," she says. "There's a lot of technique involved, so someone who's this big muscular person -- it's possible I could lift more than they do. There's speed and timing to it -- you have to be explosive. I think it's great just for confidence building ... I guess I got hooked."

The review was prompted by the Atlanta resident wanting to take part in tournaments in the United States, including one coming up in July. But USA Weightlifting informed her that those events are governed by IWF rules, which at that time precluded her dressing in keeping with her beliefs.

Abdullah says she understands the need to make sure she isn't wearing anything under her clothes to give her a competitive advantage. She says judges could check to make sure she is not wearing something on her elbows, for example, that might help her.

Numerous athletic agencies have faced similar questions in the past and, in some cases, have determined that allowing special clothing violates fairness or equality among all contestants.

FIFA, the international federation governing soccer, recently refused to allow Iran's women's soccer team to wear headscarves while playing in an Olympic qualifying round in Amman, Jordan.

Abdullah told CNN her effort is not just about herself. "I should at least try," she said, "if not for me then maybe for other women who -- if they have my faith or another faith -- dress a certain way."

CNN's Josh Levs contributed to this report

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/30/georgia.muslim.weightlifter/

Weightlifting Body to Modify Clothing Rules to Accommodate Muslim Woman

Associated Press

Kulsoom Abdullah, a female Muslim weightlifter

PENANG, Malaysia -- Weightlifting's world governing body agreed Wednesday to modify its clothing rules to accommodate a Muslim woman competing for the United States.

Kulsoom Abdullah of Atlanta was barred from entering higher-level U.S. competitions. Her Muslim faith requires that she covers her arms, legs and head, which violates international rules governing weightlifting attire.

USA Weightlifting took her case to the International Weightlifting Federation, which agreed to change the rules after its technical committee reviewed the proposal.

"The modified rule changes permit athletes to wear a one-piece, full-body, tight-fitted 'unitard' under the compulsory weightlifting costume," IWF vice president Sam Coffa said.

"The 'unitard' will enable technical officials to effectively adjudicate areas of the body which are essential to the correct execution of the lift."

The old rules didn't allow suits that covered either the knees or elbows because judges had to be able to see that both have been locked out to complete a lift.

Abdullah said a tight-fitting shirt would allow judges to have a good view of her elbows. She also said she'd be willing to wear a leg covering that conforms to her religion but allows judges to determine whether she's completed a lift.

The new clothing modifications go into effect immediately. The U.S. championships are being held in Iowa next month.

"This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion," IWF President Tamas Ajan said.

The IWF said the modification "promotes and enables a more inclusive sport environment and breaks down barriers to participation."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/06/29/weightlifting-body-to-modify-clothing-rules-to-accomodate-muslim-woman/#ixzz1QxldHO9V

IWF changes rules to accommodate Muslim clothing beliefs

Weightlifter Kulsoom Abdullah scored a victory for women and her faith today, with a decision by the IWF to allow Muslim women to wear more modest attire during U.S. competition.

Kulsoom Abdullah, a 35-year old female weightlifter, challenged the uniform rules of the International Weightlifting Federation, citing religious beliefs, and won.

Abdullah challenged the rule that required weightlifters to wear a “singlet” uniform in competition. Abdullah said that her Muslim beliefs do not allow her to wear the singlet, which would not cover enough of her body—basically everything but her hands and face.

"It's what I believe in. It's what I've chosen to do,"Abdullah told CNN earlier this month. "I've always dressed this way publicly," she said, referring to her modest dress.

Abdullah, who holds a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering, can deadlift 245 pounds and get up 105 pounds in the snatch (when the athlete takes the barbell from the floor to over her head in one motion). She typically competes in the 106-pound or 117-pound classifications. She says she simply enjoys competing in the sport.

"It guess it's empowering," she told CNN. "There's a lot of technique involved, so someone who's this big muscular person -- it's possible I could lift more than they do. There's speed and timing to it -- you have to be explosive. I think it's great just for confidence building ... I guess I got hooked."

Abdullah, who lives in Atlanta, wanted to take part in some tournaments governed by IWF rules, which require athletes to wear the standard singlet—officially referred to as “costumes”—which is collarless and does not cover the elbows or knees.

Continue: http://www.huliq.com/10473/iwf-changes-rules-accomodate-muslim-clothing-beliefs

Debarred from contest for wearing hijab in U.S.

By Narayan Lakshman

Kulsoom Abdullah (35) can deadlift 111 kg and snatch over 47.5 kg without breaking sweat. But the Atlanta-based weightlifter, also a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, is struggling with a weightier issue — clothing.

While Ms. Abdullah has already made a name for herself competing in the 48-kg and 53-kg weight classes, the future of her career hung in the balance this month after USA Weightlifting, a sporting associations affiliated with the U.S. Olympic Committee, debarred her from joining a national competitions in Ohio and Iowa because of her hijab.

USA Weightlifting reportedly told Ms. Abdullah that as per International Weightlifting Federation rules, suits that covered either the knees or elbows are forbidden since “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”.

After the disappointing judgment came she told media, “I'd hate to think that just because you dress a certain way, you can't participate in sports... I don't want other women who dress like me to say, ‘I can't get involved in that sport' and get discouraged.”

Good news

Yet after her case came to light and organisations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations spoke out on her behalf, some good news emerged in recent weeks — the International Weightlifting Federation agreed to “consider her request” to allow weightlifters to cover their heads, necks, arms and legs during competitions.

The progress came after CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote to USOC Chief Executive Officer Scott Blackmun, saying, “No athlete should be forced to choose between faith and sport... Muslim women seek to participate in all aspects of American society, including sporting activities, and should not face artificial and arbitrary barriers to that participation.”

According to reports Ms. Abdullah was thrilled by the development, saying, “The fact that it's going to even be discussed, I think that's really great.”

The IWF's technical committee began deliberations on June 26, as part of a review, in Penang, Malaysia. A decision could be announced within days, reports said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2139739.ece