Question

americans were no doubt glad to have muhammad representing their country. muhammad and her teammates, mariel zagunis, dagmara wozniak, and monica aksamit, defeated italy 45-30 to clinch third place. their win marked the first womens medal in fencing for the u.s. at the rio games.

fencing has its roots in sword fighting, which dates back to as early as about 1190 bce in some parts of the world. these early duels often ended with a fencer being seriously or even fatally wounded. but around the 15th century ce, people began fencing as a sport in spain, italy, and germany, and eventually, the sport spread all over the world, evolving as it did. fencing has been part of the olympics since the 1896 games in athens, greece.

today, the sport tests fencers physical and mental dexterity. dueling with blunted swords (foils, sabres, or epees, depending on the form of the sport that is being played), fencers earn points by striking their opponents while simultaneously attempting to parry their opponents thrusts. fencers wear electronic scoring machines that register when they have been hit or when they have succeeded in hitting their opponents. to protect themselves from injury, they must don full protective gear, including the characteristic helmet with a mesh mask, as soon as they walk onto the playing strip, or piste.

muhammad, who loves sports, opted for fencing in part because of the sports distinctive garb. the uniform allowed her to wear her hijab and thus

question 5
the reader can infer from the article that ______.
a. several other athletes on the u.s. womens fencing team have started wearing hijabs on the piste.
b. most olympic fencers will at some point sustain a serious injury while participating in a duel.
c. dagmara wozniak was glad that the 2016 u.s. womens fencing team was so diverse.
d. ibtihaj muhammad wears a hijab instead of the fencers characteristic helmet with a mesh mask.

Explanation:

• Option A: The text only mentions Ibtihaj Muhammad wearing a hijab; there is no evidence other team members do.
• Option B: The text notes modern fencers wear full protective gear, so serious injury is not implied as a given for Olympic fencers.
• Option C: The text states "Americans were no doubt glad to have Muhammad representing their country" about the team's win, but there is no specific information about Dagmara Wozniak's personal feelings.
• Option D: The text says Muhammad "opted for fencing in part because of the sport's distinctive garb. The uniform allowed her to wear her hijab and thus sport's distinctive garb" and that fencers wear a "characteristic helmet with a mesh mask"—this confirms she wears a hijab along with the required helmet/mask, not instead. (Correction: Rechecking, the text clarifies she can wear her hijab with the fencing gear, so Option D is the only inferable choice as the others are unsupported.)

Answer:

D. Ibtihaj Muhammad wears a hijab instead of the fencer's characteristic helmet with a mesh mask.