Not just deciding, but physically putting myself through the motion of wanting to change. But that’s exactly what happened, because I took action, I took charge. “I never in my life thought that a walk-a simple walk-could actually change my life. And her decision was a profoundly simple act-she went for a walk. Hopeless, heavy, and ashamed, it wasn’t until she realised she needed to let go of that self-hatred that things changed. The anti-depressants she was on left her lethargic, “feeling like a vegetable,” as she describes it. By 19, she had experienced years of depression that left her over-sleeping, over-eating, and dealing with suicidal tendencies. Instead, her teenage years were defined by her struggles with her own mental health. She did not spend her childhood in gyms and competitions under the thumb of high-strung coaches. Hers is not the story of athletes groomed from birth. It’s her emotional journey, perhaps not as sexy as her crowning glories, that she counts as what made her who she is today. But to simply list her achievements is to miss her story of how she went from crippling depression to world medals. It’s not being a woman.Īl Haddad was a superstar athlete, and in her brief career went from victory to another in quick succession. the most powerful aspect of my story is not the hijab. When I asked her which of these achievements she is proudest of, she said none. Her collaboration with Nike in 2016 gave us the now famous Nike Pro Hijab. Her points in the Asian Olympics qualifier in Uzbekistan helped push the UAE national team to Rio in 2016, though her back injury meant she could not compete herself. She was the first Arab woman to compete in the Reebok CrossFit Asia Regionals in Seoul, South Korea in 2012, and the first competitive weightlifter from the Gulf to do so in a hijab in 2013. One featured woman is Amna Al Haddad, journalist-turned-weightlifter and sports pioneer from the UAE.Īl Haddad, who only started working out at age 19, now holds 6 gold and 3 silver medals from International Weightlifting Federation-sanctioned events.
This is thanks in part to books like Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, which features stories of 100 powerful women. The generation of children growing up now, however, can read different stories, featuring a lot fewer non-consensual kisses. They’d be rescued by equally-far away handsome princes and live happily ever after in a life distant and detached from any I would ever lead. I, as most people did, grew up reading bedtime stories of princesses in far away lands.
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