Muslim athlete disqualified over uniform Wed Jan 16, 5:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON - A high school track star has been disqualified from a meet because officials said the custom-made outfit she wears to conform to her Muslim faith violated competition rules.
Juashaunna Kelly, a senior at the District of Columbia's Theodore Roosevelt High School, has the fastest mile and 2-mile times of any girl runner in the city this winter. She was disqualified from Saturday's Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet.
Kelly was wearing the same uniform she has worn for three seasons while running for Theodore Roosevelt's cross-country and track teams. The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates.
The outfit allows her to compete while adhering to her Muslim faith, which forbids displaying any skin other than her face and hands.
"It's not special," Kelly said. "It doesn't make me perform better."
But meet director Tom Rogers said Kelly's uniform violated rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which sanctioned the event. Uniforms are required to be "a single-solid color and unadorned, except for a single school name or insignia no more than 2 1/4 inches," he said.
Rogers said that he knew Kelly was wearing the uniform for religious reasons and that he offered her several options to conform to the rules while still respecting her faith, including placing a plain T-shirt over her unitard and then wearing her team uniform over it.
Kelly's mother, Sarah, and Roosevelt Coach Tony Bowden disputed that account. They said officials made several demands of her daughter before Rogers made his decision.
"First, they said she had to take her hood off," Sarah Kelly said. "Then, they said she can't have anything with logos displayed. Then, they said she had to turn it inside out. When I told them that there weren't any logos on it, they said she had to put a plain white T-shirt on over it."
Juashaunna Kelly has worn the same uniform for three years without any problems, including at last year's Montgomery Invitational. Rogers said officials must have missed the uniform last year.
"It wasn't a problem last year, and it's a problem this year? Make me understand why," Bowden said.
Kelly, whose 1,600-meter time of 5 minutes 17.49 seconds and 3,200-meter time of 12:00.81 are the fastest of any D.C. girl, was hoping to run fast enough at the Montgomery Invitational to qualify for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York on Feb. 8-9.
Bowden said the team has no other meets scheduled that would allow her to qualify for the event, which attracts dozens of college recruiters.
Interesting article, there is also a video report upon it (http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/play...26713&src=news) It is rather petty for the official to disqualify her for the orange and blue kit she was wearing- to be fair it can be an advantage as other competitors can be put off by the shocking colours. BUT inshallah this episode should boost her will to compete and with a uni colour kit she will kick some butt!
Its either down to 3 years of luck (just like not gettign caught without a TV license) and the 'law' cuaght up with her, or that someone did not want her to succeed further and brought the rule to light at a convenient time.
Note: I am not familiar with US high school atheltics, however their seemed to be TV crews there at hand to interview her at the time. So the official must of known that the media was present and maybe this factor could of had a bearing towards their decision?
I am surprised that the uniform is accepted as being Islamic. While yes, she is covered, it is VERY form fitting. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
It isn't really. There's an olympic level hijabi sprinter, Ruqaya al Ghasra, who does a little better because she wears a baggier jersey over her shirt. But in the end, one of the requirements of hijab is that the clothes shouldn't be form fitting.
I run recreationally and wear a baggy shirt and baggy pants with my hijab. Granted, I'm no where near a level where having baggy clothes effects my performance. I'm still at the stage where I'm happy to complete 26.2 miles lol(next goal inshaAllah!)
However, something I think about is how men distance runners in particular will wear baggier jerseys and shorts, while female distance runners usually wear bikini style attire. I haven't been able to figure out why the women would wear such tight clothes, but the men don't have a need to.
Last edited by UmmSqueakster; 01-17-2008 at 03:46 PM.
I did some googling, and it looks like she used to wear a baggier jersey and pair of shorts over the bodysuit, which would make it more hijab worthy. If the pants of the bodysuit were a little bit looser and she wore it with the shorts and baggier jersey, that would totally be something I'd buy for running.
Now, because hijab worthy running clothes are one my favorite topics, I'm going to ramble on now for a bit. My main problem is finding a shirt that is long enough to cover down to about mid thigh without being uber baggy at the top. I have to buy men's XL shirts, and they're horrible in fit on the top, but the perfect length. I have a pair of swim pants with a skirt over it that would be perfect for running, except the fabric is way too heavy. The skirt covers down to the mid thight, thus eliminating the need for a long shirt.
My next experiment - get a pair of slightly baggy running pants (haven't found those yet), a running skirt and then be able to buy a ladies' running shirt that is baggy, but not sack like.
It will look similar to this, but something that can be worn in the summer as well. This is too heavy for anything beyond winter running I think.
Just a thought about your problems finding shirts long enough but still fitting up top- Have you tried maternity shirts? I know it sounds strange but they will fit up top without being overly tight plus they are longer than regular shirts.
"The only thing neccesary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." - E. Burke
"We have just enough religion to hate but not enough to love one another" -Jonathan Swift
Speaking of Muslim athletes,the 2o12 Olympics are during the month of Ramadan. So this puts all the Muslim athletes at a huge disadvantage. And about 1/4 of the all the athletes in olympics are Muslim.
I think the best an athlete can do is wear a Kaftan and loose pants... maybe made in lycra...
But getting back to the real issue, all i can say is after 9/11, people tend to make ANY excuse to kick Muslims up the b##t/behind
Shakoor15 "Speaking of Muslim athletes,the 2o12 Olympics are during the month of Ramadan. So this puts all the Muslim athletes at a huge disadvantage. And about 1/4 of the all the athletes in olympics are Muslim."
Never realised that it will be during Ramadan, however many athletes miss certain days of fasting and make them up after- this is common in the English Premiership where Muslim players such as Arsenal Vice captain Kolo Habib Toure has spoken about he and other Muslim players take a few days prior to matchday of fasting and make it up after Ramadan.
However I do not know the ruling on regards to not fasting due to work, i know it can be applied to travel though.
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