Table of Contents
Saudi Women and Olympic Participation
My Ramadan & Training Progress
BBC documentary appearance- Girl Power: Going for Gold
Strong! Atlanta Premiere Pictures
Saudi Women and Olympic Participation
Sarah Attar an 800 meter runner and Wojdan Shaherkani in Judo, are making history by being the first women to ever represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics. I was very disappointed when I read that 16-year-old female Judo fighter, Wojdan Shaherkani, who is entered in the +78kg women’s weight class might not be able to compete. The International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said she could not wear the hijab (headscarf) during competition and is quoted as saying “The athlete from Saudi Arabia will fight in the spirit of judo and according to the principles of judo without a hijab.” They also state safety reasons.
Please read Amna Al Haddad’s write-up on her blog about this issue titled: Hijab and Sports.
There are many female athletes who participate in sports with hijab and businesses are growing that are creating hijabs suitable for athletes. Before I competed in weightlifting, I practiced Taekwondo with hijab. I know females who practice the grappling martial arts, such as Judo, in hijab as well. There is a way to accomodate clothing in which the athlete does not have a competitive advantage over others AND still be safe. Safety was one of the reasons FIFA cited for banning the headscarf, but has recently FIFA lifted the headscarf ban for football.
I REALLY hope Wojdan Shaherkani gets to the mat in London. It has taken so much effort for her to get to this point, to be able to represent Saudi Arabia! As Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, stated during the opening ceremony: “For the first time in Olympic history, all the participating teams will have female athletes. This is a major boost for gender equality.”
I am surprised the Judo Federation had not considered her clothing restrictions beforehand, but there is still hope for them to reconsider their decision and work on agreeing to a head covering for her that will comply with the rules and safety issues. It would be a generous on their part, not only for helping Shaherkani make history, but the spirt of sports and Olympic competition — bringing people from all over the world to the same arena, field, stadium and mat.
My Ramadan & Training Progress
My post on Ramadan and training got mentioned in the article Many Muslim Olympians Get A Break On Ramadan Fasting by Bill Chappell
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetorch/2012/07/23/157227966/many-muslim-olympians-get-a-break-on-ramadan-fasting – I love NPR!
The first day I started fasting for Ramadan, I took a rest day from training. The second day, I went to train around 6pm (sunset/fast break is around 845pm in Atlanta). I only did singles for the snatch and clean and jerk. For the snatch I went up to 37.5kg (about 70% of my max) and 45kg for the clean and jerk (70% of my max as well). Because of the heat, humidity and fasting, when I do the clean and stand up, I have less oxygen as usual, I need to take more breaths and can not always complete the split jerk as well as usual. Because of this, I did a few more cleans only up to 55kg (about 75% of my clean max).
The main challenge was getting over the feeling of thirst, which increased as I was losing water from perspiration. I tried to make a conscience effort to take deep breaths in between my lift attempts and hold an ice pack to my skin. It was challenging, but I accomplished more than I thought. After I train, I can go straight home and break my fast.
The second day, I did a usual length workout. Power snatch up to a few kilos less than I normally might then the Jerk Recovery drill was almost simliar volume and weight compared to usual, and Back Squat I limited to sets of 2 and up to 80kg (85% of my max). That second day was much better than the first day, so I acclimated to fasting sooner than I thought I would. I took another rest day after the second day, and have now continued on schedule pending on how I feel.
My diet:
Peshmanay/Suhoor/Sehree – I have been going with what I mentioned in my Ramadan blog post. Mainly protein and fast for the pre-fast meal (example: scrambled egg plus egg white cooked in butter with some vegetables & cheese, meat or fish and usually a few chocolates I made out of coconut oil, coconut cream and unsweetened cocoa powder. I drink a few glasses of water before eating, and a little bit after eating. I try not to fill myself up with too much water because I go back to sleep for a few hours.
Iftar / Fast break – I eat 3 dates and drink water. I then pray maghrib and after that, eat a meal of protein, good carbs (fruits and/or vegetables) and fat. Fruit chaat is a favorite of mine, which is a fruit salad with spices mixed in. I will continue to drink water and eat something light later at night. I try not to eat too close to sleeping, so my sleep will be more sound and I can get up more easily for the pre-dawn/pre-fast meal.
Hope Ramadan is going well for you all and please remember me in your dua!
Future competitions?
I have been asked when I am going to compete next. I am not sure. My first mini goal is to get through training during Ramadan without being able to drink water and the hot weather (about 90-100F/32-38 C). I would like to qualify as a 53kg lifter instead of 48kg for USA national competitions.
BBC documentary appearance- Girl Power: Going for Gold
There is a recent documentary by the BBC – Girl Power Going For Gold “which follows young weightlifters Zoe Smith, Hannah Powell and Helen Jewell as they chase the ultimate Olympic dream of representing Team GB at London 2012.”
They made recent news after the broadcast due to an idiot guy on twitter who made fun of them.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics–british-female-weightlifter-fires-back-at-twitter-bullies.html
I had a chance to watch half of it so far, and to my surprise, I have an appearance on it at minute marker 13:45 (I wondered why my website started to get more hits from the UK). They show the split jerk from my first clean and jerk attempt at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships in France.
Strong! Atlanta Premiere Pictures
July 21st, 2012, the documentary, Strong! premiered in Atlanta at the Plaza Theater.
STRONG! chronicles an Olympic athlete’s struggle to defend her champion status as her lifetime weightlifting career inches towards its inevitable end. Directed by Julie Wyman. National broadcast on Independent Lens in July 2012!
I enjoyed it a lot, it was very well made, inspiring and motivational. I also got to meet and speak with Cheryl Haworth and director Julie Wyman (she is a professor at UC Davis, just like Susan Kaiser. It is certainly a small world. Dr. Kaiser is writing a book; Fashion and Cultural Studies, to be published by Berg in London in late 2012 or early 2013. It will contain a picture of me competing and will include my story, as she explains “as a brief case study of the interplay between identity/agency and cultural regulation– and how individual agency and identity issues can successfully challenge cultural regulation of style-fashion-dress.”)
Here are some pictures I took:
The whole album:
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| Strong! – (documentary Atlanta premier) |