DC area Muslim HS runner disqualified

That's what juries are for. When will the case be on COURT TV ?

Rules are rules. The rules state that the undergarment must be a single, solid color...end of story. It doesn't matter what race or religion the person is. There are other muslim athletes in the area around PG that have no issue following this rule. I know of one in particular that wears a solid white garment under her uniform.

Bottomline...the girl should have never been allowed to wear it in the first place. Because someone didn't follow the rule in the first place this is becoming an issue.

In high school I was never allowed to run with my Crucifix or watch. Not a religious exclusion, not a TIME exclusion, just the uniform rules. If I wanted to compete I had to abide by the rules so I always made sure that somebody held my chain and cross for me when I ran. I didn't take it personally, I most definitely didn't take it as an assault on my religion. It's a shame even standard uniform rules that apply across the boards are questioned and turned into an issue of political correctness.

Mookie Blaylock wrote:

Ah, poor girl. Why doesn't she take that crap to a Muslim country if she has it so bad here? She needs to get over it if she plans to keep living and enjoying the freedoms this Judeo-Christian nation allows her to have.

Ladies and gentlemen, an average american.

My stepfather was actually an official there and was standing next to the argument. The officials are told that any and all uniform issues are to be remedied before the person can run in an event and they are to do all they can to get everything straight so these students can run. My stepfather has in fact DQ'ed good ol' American white boys because they refused to pull their shorts up and stop endangering themselves because it would interfere with their "fashion statement". The solid color unitard/body armor issue is not one of safety, but rather identification, so that no one can dispute later who's uniform was in front.

The girl was offered a t-shirt, and told that she would have to wear it, if she was going to be able to compete. The coach flipped and started going on about how she'd worn this uniform in two other races. That's nice. This was a different meet and they strictly follow the national level rules. Congrats that your student reached the level where she would have to conform to such rules, it shows that she really is good to get to such a meet.

Coach didn't take it to well that he would have to conform to these rules and decided his best action was attack the ref he was arguing with. My stepfather heard the fighting, turned to see what was going on, just in time to see the coach PUNCH the ref right in the face. Needless to say the police were called but for some stupid reason the ref didn't push charges (he'd have been in jail if it was me who had taken the punch). This all led up to them finally saying "enough" and DQ'ing the girl. And what did she do? Whine that they weren't being nice when her coach had PUNCH'ed a ref. What is this coach teaching if this girl wasn't shocked over this sort of behavior?

On a side note: two muslim girls did run in the race she was DQ'ed. Both ran in veils, and outfits that met both their religious needs and the rules of the meet. They were never approached about anything, because it was NOT about religion. Poor down-trodden little girl with her lunatic coach. I'm having a hard time pitying her. Let her waste her money on a lawsuit.

This is to Lauren:

The problem with your stepfather and the other officials at these meets at the PG County Sportsplex is that they are all on a power trip and have no concept that the meet is NOT ABOUT THEM.

The college meet held there yesterday was another example as meet officials in every area screwed up horribly.

Several examples:

Virtually every race had false starts (Including mens and womens 3000m!!!!!) b/c the starter was holding people for a ridiculously long time.

Officials decided that if athletes did not check in exactly an hour before their scheduled even time they would scratch the athletes without provocation. And only reinstate those athletes to the slowest sections of races when they showed up. (The meet was also 30 minutes behind b/c of this buffoonery).

This results in many fast athletes being in slow sections trying to run for time instead of being able to just compete. Prime example that I saw was a guy in the mile running 428 from the slow heat, winning by almost 20 seconds and a girl in the slow heat of the 3000m running 1032 with a 20-25 second lead practically the entire race.

In addition the officials throughout the meet were rude, standoffish, unhelpful and in many cases attempting to provoke athletes, coaches and fans into altercations.

No wonder the National meet is going to Boston, who would want to be around officials like these?

leave the officials alone.

I would have loved to be there when that coached punched out a ref. Just loved it.

He would never walked again after I got through with him. And he better pray to allah I don't up and decide to get some legal help for the county and ref in question.

maybe god really does love him, because If I had been there, oh boy. I'm surprised no one did anything though, you'd be surprised who goes to track meets. hope he doesn't show his face around a track again.

The examples you give about yesterday's meet, besides being somewhat vague and subjective, have absolutely nothing to do with what happened at the Montgomery County Invite w/ J. Kelly's disqualification. And it certainly doesn't prove meet officials are on a 'power trip'. Maybe, instead of that possibility, you're just a douchebag who can't follow simple instructions and couldn't run a meet himself if his life depended on it.

J. Kelly's family comes across as media gluttons who will probably wind up on Oprah's couch before this is all over. And Kelly's coach is a loud-mouthed jerk who blames meet officials when he alone should understand the rules and make sure his athlete conforms to the rules, even if he disagrees with them.

That's the truth, which you might be able to see if you extract your head from your ass for a few minutes.

One area coach:

I've been to literally hundreds of meets in my life and yesterday's officials were by far the worst that I have ever dealt with, period.

I actually cannot even remember another meet where I even have ever had a single problem with an official.

I'm not the only one who was there yesterday who feels this way either.

mooch wrote:

One area coach:

I've been to literally hundreds of meets in my life and yesterday's officials were by far the worst that I have ever dealt with, period.

I actually cannot even remember another meet where I even have ever had a single problem with an official.

I'm not the only one who was there yesterday who feels this way either.

so the official deserved to be punched in the face, and sued. right? I mean you must have some reading comprehension to read the title of the thread and come on here and post right? So logically this is the only conclusion we can come too. you must consider yourself a wonderful person.

Committing a crime under color of authority is still a crime under the law.

mooch wrote:

In addition the officials throughout the meet were rude, standoffish, unhelpful and in many cases attempting to provoke athletes, coaches and fans into altercations.

No wonder the National meet is going to Boston, who would want to be around officials like these?

This just goes to show how ignorant of the situation you are. The officials from the Nike Indoor Nationals meet are not the same officials as those who work the Maryland Invitational. They come from all over the country and a lot of them are the same ones who work the Nike Outdoor Nationals. Many of them also work NCAA nationals, USATF Outdoor Nationals, USATF Indoor Nationals, the big meets at Icahn Stadium and the Home Depot Center, etc., and many of them will be working the Olympic Trials this summer. Funny, I never hear complaints about "rude" and "unhelpful" officials who "attempt to provoke athletes" at any of these meets.

I first would like to say as a Muslim woman, I am proud that she is out there running.

With that said, I think what she has on is wrong. In Islam it tells us to cover our body, not to show the shape of our body. Where in this picture ( the one with the shorts on) do you know see the shape of her body? Now the picture with the pants and t-shirt is fine.

I just think that we need to stop saying "that it's a religious thing", to me it's not, it's about what's right and what's wrong. "I" think that everyone should have to follow the rules. Yes, we can bend them, but not break them. I have been a track runner when I was in high school. I was not Muslim at the time, however we had to follow the rules of having one color. I ran at the Penn Relays many times. I have seen people disqualified for having on jewerly.

I think it's high time we stop playing the "religious" thing and start following the rules.