- Tina Rahimi will represent Australia at the Olympic Games
- She wears a full hijab when she participates in the ring
- Rahimi, 27, won bronze at the Commonwealth Games
Tina Rahimi has made history after becoming the first female Muslim boxer to represent Australia at an Olympic Games.
Rahimi, 27, has been named as one of 12 fighters to qualify for the Paris event in 2024, with Australia sending its largest ever boxing team to the Games.
Rahimi, from Bankstown in Sydney, wears a full hijab during her fights and won bronze in the featherweight division at the Commonwealth Games last year.
She also won gold at the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands and admitted that boxing while wearing a hijab in such sweltering conditions was an uncomfortable experience.
“Oh god, it's extremely hot,” she told the station Sydney Morning Herald. 'In the Solomon Islands the humidity was insane. As soon as I put the headgear on, I was dripping with sweat. But just like with fasting and training, I adapt.”
Tina Rahimi will compete for Australia at the Paris Olympics
The 27-year-old fights in full hijab and won bronze at the Commonwealth Games
Rahimi also participated during Ramadan this year. She competed in the Women's World Boxing Championship in India, abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset.
“I had to start running before sunrise to keep my training and water levels up,” she said. 'I could only do one session a day. I felt very tired, exhausted. But it is part of my religion and so it is important to me.”
Rahimi works as a makeup artist when she's not in the ring, and says her expertise in that field has helped her after her fights.
“At the world championships in Turkey last year, I had bruises around my eyes,” she said. “But by the time I finished applying makeup, you couldn't remember.”
“I sparred with a girl once,” she said. 'I broke her nose, but she already had breathing problems, so it wasn't my lack of discipline in the ring.
'I didn't have a good feeling about it, even though she already had problems. I ended up doing her makeup for her. As soon as it happened, I said, 'You're coming to my studio for free.'
Rahimi revealed how uncomfortable it can be to compete in a full hijab
Rahimi comes from a fighting pedigree, with her father, Michael, a freestyle wrestling champion who only Australia missed out on at the 1992 Olympics because the national federation only sent athletes in the 68kg and 74kg weight classes.
“I now train twice a day six days a week,” she said. “I can't wait to go to Paris and represent Australia.”
When Fahimi was asked if he would go to the City of Love to fight, he said: “Maybe I will find love there, but in the meantime, so will my love for boxing. I fell in love with it from the moment I started. I didn't want to stop. It felt so good.'