20 February 2024
Tina Rahimi, a 27-year-old Hijabi boxer was Australia’s first-ever female Muslim boxer to compete at a Commonwealth Games, 2022. Now she is the first female Muslim boxer selected to represent Australia in Paris Olympic 2024.
When Rahimi competed at Commonwealth Games in the UK, she was the first female Australian Muslim boxer to do so. She won a bronze medal in the featherweight division (57 kilograms). After Commonwealth Games, she said in an interview, “It will be amazing to be representing my country and also my community.” She added, “I’ll hopefully show the youth and everyone out there that everything is possible regardless of how you look, how you dress.”
Tina wears long sleeves and a full-length hijab under a protective headgear when she boxes. Before 2017, when Tina began boxing, apparel restrictions were placed on female Muslim boxers. In 2019, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) amended its rules, allowing Muslim boxers to wear a hijab and full body cover in the ring.
Presently, Rahimi is concentrating on the Paris Olympics, which is slated to be held in July 2024. On Instagram, she posted a clip of her fighting with a quote from Mike Tyson: “The temptation for greatness is the biggest drug in the world.”
On her post, she said, “I’ve never ever been satisfied with my achievements. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing at times but just because I’ve qualified for the Olympics, it doesn’t give me an excuse to settle.”
“Yes, I’m obviously taking it a little easier to give my body the rest it needs. But knowing that I only have about 7/8 months till the Olympics really freaks me out.”
“Never let anyone make you feel that you’re not good enough or capable of achieving the things you want the most.”
In an interview on how difficult it was for her to play games especially as a Muslim woman and that too wearing Hijab, she said, “At first it was quite hard as I wasn’t really a confident person. I thought people would judge me – particularly around wearing a hijab. There was so much hate around Muslims at the time I started fighting. At the time I did put on the hijab – I started wearing it around the time of the Sydney Lindt Café Siege. I did get a few hate comments in the street.”
She added, “When that happened, I found it hard communicating with people as I thought they were always hating on me. That was really tough going into boxing, especially being a minority as you pretty much don’t see many boxers wearing the hijab. I was used to copping a lot of hate and discrimination because of my decision to wear the hijab. It’s been tough, but now I have grown the confidence. Knowing not everyone judges you for what you’re wearing. Doing what I love and participate in the sport. You do get hate from people around the world but have to choose to ignore it. Female boxers in general do cop a lot of hate. It’s the hardest sport in the world. There are plenty of men saying we should be in the kitchen.”