Somalia sports minister apologises after slow 100m runner goes viral at University Games

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Barre Mohamud, said his ministry did not know how 20-year-old Nasra Abukar Ali was selected to compete in the women’s 100m at the student games in Chengdu on Tuesday.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: General view of the track at an athletics stadium. | Photo Credit: CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/Getty Images via AFP

Somalia’s sports minister publicly apologised on Wednesday, ordering the suspension of the chairwoman of the national track and field federation after a seemingly untrained female sprinter represented the African country at the World University Games in China. The athlete took more than 20 seconds to finish a 100-meter race.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Barre Mohamud, said his ministry did not know how 20-year-old Nasra Abukar Ali was selected to compete in the women’s 100m at the student games in Chengdu on Tuesday.

The ministry separately released a statement directing the Somalia Olympic Committee to suspend national athletics federation chairwoman Khadija Aden Dahir amid allegations that Nasra Abukar was a relative of hers and was given the chance to compete at the games because of that.

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Somalia’s university union said it had not sent any runners to China as part of an official Somali team.

A video of the agonisingly slow run by Nasra Abukar was shared across social media, and Mohamud said that the performance was embarrassing for the country.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports should step down. It's disheartening to witness such an incompetent government. How could they select an untrained girl to represent Somalia in running? It's truly shocking and reflects poorly on our country internationally. pic.twitter.com/vMkBUA5JSL

— Elham Garaad ✍︎ (@EGaraad_) August 1, 2023

In her qualifying race, Nasra Abukar was immediately left behind and finished about 10 seconds after the winner. Despite being dead last, she did a little skip in the air as she crossed the finish line.