It's not just her fencing talent that makes Olympic athlete Ibtihaj Muhammad special.
She is also the first American athlete to compete while wearing a hijab, the Muslim headscarf.
The 30-year-old New Jersey born fencer is set to compete in fencing on Monday morning, Rio time against Ukraine's Olena Kravatska.
Muhammad is from a sporting family, with a football-playing brother and a sister who also fences.
In March she told TV host Ellen DeGeneres her mother had encouraged her to take up the sport because she wouldn't have to alter the uniform for modesty.
"It was really important for my Mum to keep me active, she saw how excited I was to be in sports and she wanted me to do that while observing the hijab," she told the talkshow host.
Muhammad decided to focus full-time on her fencing after graduating Duke University in North Carolina with a degree in international comparative studies and African and American studies.
"After I graduated from college, I saw there was a lack of minorities in the sport," she told TeamUSA.org.
"I recognised that I had a skill set, so I started to pursue fencing full time. I felt that it was something the squad needed. There were barriers that needed to be broken in women’s sabre."
She made the London 2012 team, becoming the first hijabi woman to do so, but was unable to compete due to a hand injury.
Muhammad has also been outspoken on social media about the racial and religious upheaval in the United States.
Muhammad has met with US President Barack Obama, along with a group of Muslim community leaders.
Not only did he encourage her to bring home a gold medal, but he asked her to stand and the whole room applauded her.
The Independent reported she had also founded a modest clothing line in Los Angeles called Louella.
