Photo courtesy of Aliyah Shipman/ Instagram.
Eighteen-year-old Aliyah Shipman is fighting for her chance to compete in the Olympics, according to WLRN in Miami. The teen from Plantation, Fla. claims that the U.S. Olympic Committee is trying to have her disqualified from the Games because she represents Haiti.
Shipman, who is Haitian-American and Muslim, said that USA Taekwondo and the U.S. Olympic Committee want her disqualified because she violated eligibility rules by switching to Haiti from the United States. An athlete can switch countries, according to the rules, but must wait three years before becoming eligible in the new country. Shipman claims that the rule only applies to athletes who are 17 and older, and she was only 16 when she competed for the U.S.
The young athlete added that she has been competing for nearly two years for Haiti and even won gold and bronze medals competing in the US Open for Haiti. She also competed for Haiti in the Pan-American Olympic Qualification Tournament, and the U.S. had no issue with Shipman representing Haiti, at least not until she qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo. She argued that the complaint should have been filed before she qualified for the Olympic Games.
The athlete also acknowledged the shameful discrimination
Black women face competing in the Olympics while speaking with journalist Clay Cane on July 19.“Different decisions being made, banning swimming caps that are for larger hairstyles. It’s really unfortunate that they appear to be just racist towards biracial women or women of color.”
Shipman has begun a Change.org petition to allow her to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. She claims that the United States pressured Haiti to remove her name from the list of Olympic athletes competing in The Games.
“Since my Olympic qualification in March of 2020, the USOC has been trying to pressure the Haitian Olympic Committee to remove my name from the Olympic registration. They have never filed anything in court to stop me from going – which you would assume they would do if they had a strong legal argument, but instead have continued to apply back door pressure on the Haitian Olympic committee to remove me, and now due to concerns of retaliation from the US, Haiti has removed my registration for the 2021 Olympics.”
The Summer Olympics begin July 23, and Shipman is waiting for the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a final decision. If she isn’t allowed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, Shipman will have to wait for the 2024 games in Paris, France.