This Muslim Figure Skater Is Determined To Make History At The Olympics
Get it, girl.
| Updated
- Carol Kuruvilla Associate Religion Editor
The 21-year-old from
Abu Dhabi now has her
heart set on a bigger dream — the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang,
South Korea.
While the UAE has
participated
in the Summer Olympics, the
hot, humid country has reportedly never
had an athlete represent it in the winter games. In 2013, the UAE became part
of the
International Skating Union, paving
the way for Lari to participate in major international competitions.
If Lari makes it to the Winter
Olympics, she’ll be making history for her country.
Lari started skating on a whim when
she was about
12 years old, after watching the Disney film, “Ice Princess.” She told The
Huffington Post that she was captivated by the artistry and beauty of the
sport. But when she got out on the ice, skating turned out to be much harder
than she’d anticipated.
“When I first stepped onto the ice,
I fell,” she wrote in an email. “I knew that I just needed to figure out how to
get back up and keep trying. So that’s what I did. Fall after fall, I kept
getting back up.”
Despite the spills, she was hooked.
What started as an after
school hobby soon blossomed into an intense passion for the
sport. Fans in Lari’s country soon gave her
the nickname “Ice Princess,” after the movie that inspired her. By 2015,
she was training between four
to seven hours a day, balancing her time on the ice with schoolwork at Abu
Dhabi University.
Fall after fall, I kept getting back
up.
“I spend hours on-ice training each
day and also hours off-ice training each day,” she said. “I have dreams and I
have set goals for myself. If I reach these goals, then I will be jumping for
joy but if I don’t, it won’t be for lack of trying.”
Lari said that both of her parents
were initially hesitant about her skating, worried that she would be injured or
that her academics would suffer. But when they realized how passionate she was
about the sport, she said they began supporting her 100 percent.
“There was a period of time that my
Dad wanted me to stop because he said that I was getting too serious and he
felt that I had reached the age that I needed to stop,” Lari said. “He always
did so with love and kindness.”
“When there was a national
competition, he refused to allow me to participate,” she said. “But in all
fairness, he took me to watch and cheer for my fellow teammates. When he saw
how happy I was for them but sad for myself, he allowed me to continue. That
was when he finally understood me and how much I truly loved this sport.”
Now, Lari said that her dad cheers
for her just as loudly as everyone else.
If Lari makes it to the Olympics in
2018, she’ll be following in the footsteps of a number
of Muslim athletes who have competed while wearing the hijab. Bahrain’s
Ruqaya Al Ghasara, who participated in the 2004
Athens games, was reportedly
the
first Muslim woman to wear a hijab at the Olympics. The 2012 London
Olympics was a
particularly strong year, with competitors flying in from many of the
world’s Muslim majority countries. This year in Rio, fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad
will become the
first Muslim American woman to represent the United States at the Olympics
in a hijab.
Lari hopes that young women — both
Muslim and non-Muslim — will be inspired by her story to work towards their own
dreams.
“I wish for all young women to find
their passion. To be concerned for their health and well being. To take up
sport. To not let small obstacles look like mountains. To strive for their own
betterment and to not see the differences in people but to only see the
likenesses. This is my wish for all,” she said.
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