Michelle Smith ninth in the preliminary swims with only the top eight advancing. Smith did not submit her qualifying time for the 400m freestyle event before the 5 July deadline but did so two days later with the Irish Olympic officials insisting they had been given permission to submit the qualifying time after the deadline. Smith applied for the event after she had arrived in Atlanta. After Smith qualified at the expense of Evans, the US Swimming Federation, supported by the German and Netherlands swimming teams, challenged a decision to allow Smith to compete but were unsuccessful. At a later conference, Evans
Muslim women in sport a sphere that has "always been a white sport reserved for people with money". Ibtihaj was ranked eighth in the world entering the 2016 Summer Olympics, but lost in the round of 16 to France's Cécelia Berder. Tunisian foil fencer Inés Boubakri won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, defeating Russian Aida Shanayeva in the medal round. She dedicated her medal to all Arab women, saying that she wished her victory to be a message that "women exist and they have their place in society". Russian figure skater Alina Zagitova is the 2018 Olympic champion, 2018 European champion,