Wrestling is a great sport, but it seems to grapple itself into hypocrisy when it comes to culture and religion.
Who can forget the December 2018 incident involving New Jersey high school wrestler Andrew Johnson where a referee refused to let him compete until he cut off his dreadlocks, which he humiliatingly agreed to. That incident sparked an immediate backlash with claims of racism spewing out across the country.
The latest incident involves Life University star wrestler, Jamilah McBryde.
McBryde qualified for the 2024 US Olympic Trials, which takes place at Penn State on April 19th and 20th. It’s an honor only a few hundred wrestlers across the country get to experience.
Unfortunately for McBryde, her name will not be included in the Trials’ brackets.
According to the Life Women’s Wrestling program, United World Wrestling (UWW), which is the international governing body of the sport, hasn’t updated its rules to approve her uniform, which covers her body and includes a hijab.
“..United World Wrestling has not changed its ruling regarding uniforms in competition,” posted Life University. “Nor have they given much feedback on how to test the uniform as they are concerned there is a competitive advantage to athletes in this uniform.”
This isn’t the first time that Muslim women have faced challenges in the sport, particularly at the highest levels.
In 2023, Zainab Ibrahim, a devout Muslim, was barred from competing for a qualifying spot on the world team due to her uniform, which covered her body and included a hijab. Mind you, she competed the entire season for Umpqua Community College of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with the same uniform and it was never an issue.
But when it came to the national team, all of it sudden it was.
Ibrahim said that USA Wrestling had no issue with her uniform but because the event was connected to UWW, the decision was out of the former’s hands.
UWW requires competitors to wear a singlet, so the uniforms with compression sleeves and leggings that Muslim women wrestlers like McBryde and Ibrahim wear aren’t allowed.
Ibrahim was even willing to wear the required singlet as long as she could also don the compression coverings, but UWW denied her request to do so.
Why has it taken UWW so long to change its rules?
Better yet, why can’t they identify the alleged advantage, as Life University mentioned, that these outfits supposedly give Muslim women?
The decision by UWW puts Muslim women competitors in a bind as they are unfairly forced to decide between their faith and competitive spirit.
It’s a dilemma that’s all too familiar for Jamilah’s younger sisters, Latifah and Zaynah McBryde.
The Wrestling McBryde Sisters
The Buffalo, NY sisters hail from a wrestling family and competed at the high school and collegiate levels while wearing similar uniforms. But when it came time to compete internationally at the Pan-American Championships in 2022, UWW refused to grant Latifah a religious waiver to compete.
So like Ibrahim, Latifah was forced to cheer for her teammates from the sidelines instead of rightfully being allowed to compete alongside them.
It’s not an issue for conferences like the NJCAA, but apparently when it comes to representation on a national level, the UWW’s uniform rule creates a painful decision for these women.
These women have gone to great lengths to compete in a sport they love, including stitching their hijabs to their uniforms so they won’t affect other wrestlers.
Ultimately, these athletes unwaveringly chose their faith over competition, but it’s an unfair position that is as alarming as it is infuriating.
The UWW’s rules are discriminatory and must continue to be exposed and addressed because they exclude one specific group from competing at a national level when local and regional organizations allow compression coverings.
USA Wrestling, for example, granted all three McBryde sisters waivers to wear their modified uniforms at a national tournament in Texas.
The national governing body for wrestling in the U.S. told the HuffPost 2023 that the organization “strongly supports the opportunity of all athletes to compete on a level playing field, and it is USA Wrestling’s position that the accommodation of most religious restrictions on the clothing that wrestlers wear is appropriate.”
Unfortunately, once these athletes compete internationally, UWW’s rules take over, and that’s when Muslim women wrestlers suffer.
“USA Wrestling will continue to advocate for more inclusive rules at the UWW level, but until and unless UWW changes its position, USA Wrestling is not at liberty to enter athletes into international competitions or in events that are on the pathway to international qualification who do not comply with UWW equipment regulations,” state USA Wrestling.
This brings up the question of representation and what type of wrestler UWW wants to include.
If you visit the organization’s website and read their Values, the first is Unity.
“We treat each other with respect and foster belonging and cooperation,” states UWW.
That seems hypocritical based on their exclusionary rules.
UWW’s stance vastly differs from other world organizations such as FIFA and FIBA, who lifted their restrictions on hijabs and body coverings in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Even a red state like Tennessee amended its rules on hijabs in junior high school and high school sports in 2020.
Women Are Wrestling’s Future
More and more young girls and women are participating in wrestling.
At the collegiate level, NCAA.com reports that “nearly 800 student-athletes competed in women’s wrestling across 51 teams in 2022-23. More than 70 schools reported that they intended to sponsor the sport for the 2023-24 academic year.”
The NCAA also reports that “43% of the student-athletes on women’s wrestling rosters are minorities, which is tied for the fourth-highest percentage among NCAA women’s sports.”
Most significant is that the NCAA voted to recommend that women’s wrestling become the 91 NCAA championship sport, and is projected to add a national collegiate women’s wrestling championship for all three divisions in winter 2026.
With more women wrestling, especially women of color, it’s time UWW joined other leagues, governing bodies, countries and states in respecting religious practices and allowing Muslim women like Zainab, Jamilah, Latifah and Zaynah to wear uniforms that respect both their faith and the sport.
Otherwise, it can’t claim to practice “Unity” as a value.
