Cross Country Runner, Noor Abukaram, Disqualified Over Hijab
Graphic by Angela Cheng. Image via Facebook
Noor Abukaram, a cross-country runner from Ohio, was disqualified from a district meet for wearing a hijab while running. Abukaram, who ran her fastest 5k of the season — 22 minutes and 22 seconds according to the Toledo Blade — found out after running the race that she had been disqualified. She went to check the scoreboard only to be informed by her teammates that she had been disqualified because of her hijab. Abukaram’s cousin Zobaida Falah, blogger and Cure Your World founder, recounted Abukaram’s experience and her reactions on her Facebook. According to Falah’s post, Abukaram states, “Immediately my heart drops, I become nauseous and feel like I got punched in the gut. This is something that I had always feared which has now become a reality”.
Abukaram’s disqualification is especially troubling given that the officials took issue with another one of her teammates’ uniforms, but she was told before the race. According to Abukaram, “They were checking me and my teammates in per usual. The officials were checking our uniforms, making sure we didn’t have any uniform violations. The officials noticed a stripe on one of my teammates shorts which didn’t match the rest of the teams uniforms so they made her change into plain black shorts before the race”. Her teammate was allowed to change and compete without being disqualified, but Abukaram was not awarded the same luxury. Instead they let her proceed to race and reach a remarkable achievement, beating her own best time, knowing her score would not count. In Abukaram’s own words, “The officials did not give me the same respect that they gave my teammate who was also violating a rule when they told her to change her shorts and gave her the chance to fix herself”.
Image via Instagram
The offical did distinctly treat Abukaram differently than her teammate. Her teammate, who was wearing different shorts for no particular reason, was giving special accommodations to change. Abukaram, who wore a hijab in addition to her uniform for religious reasons was given no accommodations or even the courtesy of being informed of her “violation” before racing. Abukaram mentions seeing her coach speaking to officials for awhile after the shorts incident and worried that she would be next, but when nothing happened, she assumed she was in the clear. She has, after all, been running for Sylvania Northview in her hijab all season. However, her coach, Jerry Flowers, was in fact made aware of the fact that Abukaram’s hijab was being regarded as a uniform violation at the same time as her teammate’s shorts. The Toledo Blade quotes Sylvania Northview athletic director Chris Irwin as saying of Flowers, “He wanted her to compete even though he knew her score wouldn’t count”. Perhaps that decision would have been best left up to Abukaram herself.
According to Abukaram, “I have been running for Sylvania Northview Highschool the entire season and wasn’t told by any OSAA [SIC] officials about my “uniform violation” until the district meet”. A representative for OHSAA spoke to TeenVouge regarding the situation stating, “Cross country runners may participate in competitions with religious headwear, provided the runner has obtained a waiver from the OHSAA and submitted it to the head official before the race, since it is a change to the OHSAA uniform regulations. The official was simply enforcing this rule since a waiver had not been submitted”. Putting aside the issues involved with requiring student athletes to obtain a waiver in order to wear religious garb which in no way interferes with their sportsmanship, in regards to the Abukaram situation, OHSAA fell incredibly short. OHSAA needs to both be proactive in informing athletes of their outlandish rules and be equitable in enforcing those rules, informing all athletes of “uniform violations”, and offering them the same amount of respect.