BBC Newsbeat
When Aneila Afsar first appeared on Gladiators, she made historical past.
The favored BBC One present which pits gladiators in opposition to contenders in a collection of bodily challenges was rebooted final yr and Aneila has made it to Saturday’s semi-finals.
She turned the primary particular person ever to compete on the present sporting a hijab and says she beneficial properties power from sporting it.
“I really like that I’ve the chance to go on this iconic present and encourage younger Muslim ladies, girls from my neighborhood, and present them that there is nothing we will not do,” the 26-year-old tells BBC Newsbeat.
Many Muslim women and girls put on the hijab, an Islamic head protecting, as an emblem of modesty.
Aneila hasn’t at all times worn one, solely selecting to cowl her hair three years in the past, and a part of that was as a result of she did not see different hijabis inside sports activities.
‘My superpower’
The mum-of-two from Lancashire is a former taekwondo champion, profitable a Commonwealth Championship within the youth class.
Again then, she “did not have the braveness to embrace the headband”.
“A part of that was due to not having feminine Muslim position fashions within the sport or sports activities generally.
“It was exhausting adapting to sporting a scarf whereas being within the health trade.
“Going from not protecting to then protecting every thing which incorporates your hair, you may really feel as if persons are staring, you do not really feel assured,” she says.
However as she acquired older, Aneila discovered the arrogance to be that position mannequin herself and now she sees the hijab in a different way.
“It is empowering, it is my superpower. I find it irresistible.”
The hijab can typically be a controversial matter in sport and finally yr’s Paris Olympics, French athletes had been banned from sporting one regardless that the Worldwide Olympic Committee allowed them to.
In 2023, Moroccan footballer Nouhaila Benzina made historical past because the first participant to put on a hijab on the Ladies’s World Cup. They’d been banned till 2014 by the sport’s governing physique Fifa.
Since first showing on the present, Aneila says not everybody has been so constructive about her hijab although.
She’s posted about receiving Islamophobic and racist abuse on social media, however says total it has been closely outweighed by the encouraging response.
That is necessary to Aneila who says she needs to point out “you may put on a hijab, be concerned in health and nonetheless pursue your desires”.
“I am getting messages from ladies as younger as 12 telling me that I am the rationale they’re taking gymnastics once more and that they really feel that they’ll now be concerned in sport.”
And it is not simply younger ladies who’ve been impressed by Aneila.
“Since being on Gladiators, I’ve acquired messages from girls of their 40s who say if there was a visual Muslim girl sporting a scarf once they had been youthful, their entire journey with health would have been totally different,” she says.
And he or she hopes her journey on Gladiators will encourage her personal youngsters to really feel snug being themselves too.
“My daughter was getting older and I wished to be a visual Muslim position mannequin for her,” she says.
“I’ve used my youngsters to be my inspiration. It is due to them I wished to put on a scarf.”
Aneila says the response she’s had since first showing on Gladiators helped her realise “we will push the obstacles out, break any stereotypes”.
“The hijab isn’t a limitation.”
Gladiators will air on BBC One at 17:50 on Saturday 5 April.
Hearken to Newsbeat dwell at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or hear again right here.