Somalia athletics head suspended over viral video of 'slow runner'

Somalia's sports minister has suspended its head of athletics and accusing them of "defaming" the country after a video showing a clearly amateur runner coming last in an international race went viral.

Mohamed Barre Mohamud said on Wednesday a woman who competed for Somalia in the 100 metres at the ongoing Summer World University Games in China as neither a "sports person nor a runner".

There was also no "Somali University Sports Association", the minister said in a letter addressed to the nation's Olympic committee.

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

The woman, identified by the ministry as Nasro Abukar Ali, plodded over the finish line more than 10 seconds behind the winner, sparking ridicule and outrage among Somalis on social media.

Mohamud said the chairwoman of the Somali Athletics Federation had "engaged in acts of abuse of power, nepotism, and defaming the name of the nation in international arena" by sending Ali to compete.

"After getting evidence indicating how Nasro Abukar Ali was selected, we have confirmed that Khadijo Adan Dahir has committed power abuse and nepotism by selecting a person with no sports background," the Somalia Olympic Committee said in a statement.

"This has shamed the sports of the country."

"Henceforth, I have temporarily suspended Khadijo Adan Dahir", the committee added.

In an interview broadcast on Facebook on Thursday, Ali said she has been "selected through a competitive process" but had suffered an injury prior to the race.

"When I was running in the competition, I had muscle strain but in order to avoid being blamed I was still running", Ali said, adding that she was "disappointed to be the last one".

"I have been selected through a competitive process by a university sports association, they are blaming the chairwoman for nothing, they were looking for ways to blemish her image and remove her from the office, she has nothing to do with this," she said.

"I am happy that I carried my country's flag and I have hopes to participate in other competitions next year but if Somalis discourage you, where do you get the morale from?"

'Defaming the nation'

Minister Mohamud said his office intended to pursue legal action" against Dahir and those responsible for the "falsification of the Somali University Sports Association".

He said in the letter that Dahir had "engaged in acts of abuse of power, nepotism, and defaming the name of the nation in international arena" by sending Ali to compete in the race.

"We apologise to the public for the embarrassment this has caused the country and we are investigating the matter to find out how this has happened", he told a press conference late Wednesday.

Nestled in the Horn of Africa and struggling with a violent militant insurgency and a record-bad drought, Somalia ranked last out of 180 nations on Transparency International's corruption index in 2022.