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Muslim Attire and Track & Field
7 Comments | Posted by gimme-five in Law, Lifestyle, Religion, Sports
This morning I read an interesting article in the Washington Post entitled “When the Rules Run Up Against Faith.” Essentially, the article was about an excellent female high school cross country and track runner, who was a practicing Muslim and was thus forbidden from showing skin except for her hands and face. Thus, at track meets, she was wearing a unitard that covered her arms and legs, and was equipped with hood to cover everything but her face, which she wore under her team’s uniform.
Everything was fine for the past three years, in which she raced in that uniform at many track meets. However, at a recent meet, and one that was very important to her, a meet director told her that her uniform was unacceptable and she was disqualified. Essentially, his argument was that technically, her uniform violated the rules (his argument is wishy-washy to begin with), so she has to be disqualified.
Assuming that the meet director was entirely correct when he said that her uniform violated the rules, he is still wrong in disqualifying her, because he is ignoring the entire purpose behind the rules. As far as I can see, there are three purposes behind the rules: (1) to prevent an unfair advantage; (2) to make team uniforms the same to differentiate one team from another; and (3) to prevent athletes from wearing something obscene.
First off, wearing a full body-covering unitard under a uniform is not an unfair advantage. When I run races, I do so in the lightest and coolest clothing possible. I don’t want to sweat more than I have to, or carry around extra weight. She was disqualified at an indoor track meet, where heat is a huge factor – it is very stuffy on an indoor track – so if anything her uniform was a disadvantage.
Secondly, her unitard UNDER her school’s uniform did not make it impossible to differentiate one school from another. If you want to tell what school she went to – just look at her uniform! Additionally, many sprinters wear speedsuits at track meets, which essentially look identical to her uniform except without a hood. Why aren’t they disqualified?
Thirdly, her unitard is far from obscene. In fact, it’s the opposite – she’s covering up. The super-PC attitude in high schools today should love this.
The meet director that suspended this young track athlete was following the letter, but not the spirit of the rules. Sometimes we have to realize that the rules are there for a purpose, not merely to be followed blindly.
7 Comments for Muslim Attire and Track & Field
Chris H | January 24, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Steve | January 25, 2008 at 5:59 pm
There’s a difference, though, between other athletes who have gotten disqualified for uniform violations and this girl. The other athletes have a choice on whether to wear the piece of a uniform that is in violation of the rules. In order to comply with the rules this girl had to violate a very important religious belief. In other words she would have to violate her reason for being in order to uphold the uniform rule. No other meet officials had ever given her any grief about it.
This is the same issue I have with no tolerance rules. There has to be room for judgment of individual situations. All other meet officials used this judgment, but this one did not. Maybe the association that made this rule is somewhat to blame for not including a clause in the rule that would allow for certain Muslim women to race. This track regulation was made by people and not handed down by God. I think the better way for this meet official to act would have been to notice the situation and then go to the committee that makes the laws and propose an amendment. I agree with George that the intent of the rule was obvious and there’s no way the meet official didn’t know this.
Chris H | January 25, 2008 at 11:24 pm
The track regs do not say that a woman can’t wear a full-body covering suit. They say that the suit cannot be multi-colored, which hers was. At no point was the rule preventing her from following her religion.
Take for instance, the jewelry rules of HS athletics. In NJ, athletics are not allowed to wear crosses, because watches, chains, etc. could be dangerous. Proper enforcement of this rule is disqualification.
However, devout athletes are allowed to tape the crucifix to their chest if they wish. This rule can be interpreted similarly. Muslim women are allowed to wear clothing to cover their bodies, but rules state that these coverings must be the same one color as their uniform.
Steve | January 26, 2008 at 11:11 am
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011603574.html?tid=informbox
Here is a link for a follow up article. The meet officials let her run in this meet wearing the same uniform. There is room for interpretation in just about every rule or law and this one is no different. The meet officials used the same rule, but interpreted it differently, which allowed her to run in the race.
a. shabazz | December 2, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I found this article to hit close to home. Being the parent of a young Muslim track participant I am hoping she can continue to compete and not have this type of situation to look forward to. In this country, we should find ways to make this type of thing not a deterrent to people of any faith trying to practice what they believe in AND participate in sports.
Amber | February 8, 2012 at 5:46 am
I am a Muslim and I am thinking about joining Track and Field in 3 weeks and I was glad that I found this! That is ridiculus! It is our religion so if she has to wear that… SHE HAS TO WEAR THAT! regardless, that is VERY racist.
:(
I haven’t commented in a while, but I have to disagree with you on this topic.
The fault does not lie with an official following rules to the letter. Lawyers make a living making sure people tend to the letter of the law (or contracts). The fault is with the association that makes the rules, but also with the coach who did not keep his athlete apprised of the rules.
When I was in H.S., we all heard stories about people who got DQ’ed for wearing the wrong color spandex (or boxer shorts) underneath their school shorts. The coach should know these rules, too.
This story is upsetting, but it is hardly worth a discrimination charge. There was no attack on religion in this case.
To say that this incident is worthy of national news, just because the athlete is Muslim and it was an ‘important’ meet for her, is wrong. I’d venture to say hundreds of students are DQ’ed each year for ‘violations’ like this.
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