Jerry Flowers

I think officials were instructed to be looking for certain things. At the starting line, when we got there 3 to 5 minutes before the race, the official notified me that I needed paperwork for an exemption for her hijab. I didn't have one, he notified me she would be disqualified. I had the option to ask her to remove it or not run.

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I knew that asking her to take it off is not respectful to her, i didn't want to put her in the situation to make it seem like I was putting pressure on her to change who she is. I wanted her to run carefree. I figured she would race better if she didn't know.

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